Crystal Trials
by BlueDolphin
Summary: Taking place in the period of time after the Stars series, this fanfic addresses the nagging question I've had--Where are the outer senshi during Crystal Tokyo?
1. Turbulent Seas

Crystal Trials - Turbulent Seas

This is the first in a set I plan to write involving the popular anime Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon (don't let Sailor Moon aired on Cartoon Network currently fool you; the japanese version is aimed at a higher age audience). This is also my first stab at a fanfic period, and as I have only seen the three movies and a small portion of the SS series in japanese subtitled, I will be the first to admit that there will probably be instances where I might mess up a personality or two. I apologize. Having said that, if you are still with me, this was mainly aimed at fans of the series, but if you're being persistent, here's a short rundown of all the major characters mentioned in this story and the roles they play (keep in mind that, in Japan, last names are first, so Tsukino Usagi would be Usagi Tsukino here in America): 

Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon   
Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury (mentioned, but does not play a role)   
[Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto][1]   
[Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune][2]   
[Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus][3]   
[Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn][4]

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

************************************** 

.......floating.......   


> .....floating......   

>
>> .......floating...... 

  
The cool water eased her muscles, muscles only slightly strained from the rigorous workout she had just put herself through. She enjoyed swimming - no, enjoyed was too mundane a word. She lived the water, breathed the water, she WAS the water. It was an exhilerating feeling, one she didn't think she would ever tire of. She reveled in swimming, in the way she could forget about everything and concentrate solely on cutting through the water. 

Her aqua-blue eyes flicked open, and she stared upward at the vaulted ceiling as a slight frown graced her face. TOO easy to forget at times. It was quiet now, but what stopped something new from appearing as so many times before? She closed her eyes again. It was no matter; all she could do was be ready. 

A slight chill stole through her body, something she couldn't blame on the water. Was it her gloomy thoughts that triggered this feeling? She wanted to think so. Still, it was better to be sure. She concentrated behind closed eyes, delving deep into her being, down deep to the very corner of herself that made her what she was. Soldier of affinity. Fighter of elegance. Sailorneptune. 

The power called to her, invited her as it always did when she sought it. But she ignored its offer to embrace it, though tempting it may have been. She focused on divining the reason for her disquieting feeling using only a small portion of the power. As she concentrated, her chill increased until she was nearly trembling in the water. She felt herself slip beneath the water she had been floating on, but still she kept reaching outward with the power. Dimly at first, but then gaining in intensity, she heard the rythmic crash of waves on some far-off beach, words in a language only she could understand. She listened for as long as she could until she could feel her lungs burning for oxygen, then released the power. 

She kicked upward with powerful strokes, breaking the surface of the pool she had reserved for her personal use and drawing in deep breaths. Slowly she eased over to one of the sides and pulled herself out. She retrieved a towel from where she had laid it on a chair, as well as a small watch. She rubbed her blue-green hair vigorously, her eyes troubled as she let herself out onto the small adjoining balcony. She drew in deep, cleansing breaths of the fresh air, ignoring the small goosebumps that rose on her bare arms and legs at the cooler air. It was late afternoon; it was still too early for her ride to arrive, but she knew that, though it may not be much to her, it shouldn't wait. She took the watch she carried in one hand and flipped the aqua-blue cover open, revealing a small screen instead of a normal watchface. It activated automatically, static crackling on the screen as she waited for her call to be answered.   
Within minutes it was, the small screen filled with the boyish face of a blonde female. "Michiru? What is it?" the face asked immediately, her voice sounding tinny through the small hidden speakers.   
"I didn't mean to interrupt your racing, Haruka," she began, seeing that Haruka was seated in her racing car. "But....Haruka, I sense something. The seas are restless." 

Michiru could see faint troubled lines appear on Haruka's forehead, though her expression never wavered. "I'll be right there," she replied simply and was gone, static replacing her face. 

She closed the communicator's cover slowly, wandering over to the low railing and resting her elbows on it as she looked out over Tokyo. Her eyes wandered from building to building, over Tokyo Tower, and finally out to the western horizon where she could faintly make out the Sea of Japan glittering beneath the afternoon sun. Michiru could feel a bit of herself rebelling against the fact that, despite the near-perfect serenity she and Haruka had been enjoying since the banishment of Chaos, something was quite possibly lurking around the edges of their idyllic existence. Again. 

As she stood there quietly, she realized with a sharp pang of anger that she had thought for a brief instant that she was growing tired of her seemingly-repetitive life. "~Kaiou Michiru, you have no say in the matter~" she reminded herself sternly. "~The Princess MUST be protected, and there is no alternative~" Her stern tone brooked no argument, and her mind sheepishly fell silent. After a moment, Michiru left the balcony and went back inside to change and await Haruka. 

Not long after changing into a simple dress and laying out on one of the pool chairs alongside the indoor pool, Tenou Haruka breezed through the large double doors. She wore casual clothes, jeans, and a buttoned navy-blue, sleeveless shirt. Michiru rose to greet her, squeezing her tightly as Haruka pulled her into a quick hug. "What happened?" she asked as she pulled away, studying Michiru closely. 

Michiru explained as best she coudl what had transpired, asking after she had finished, "Didn't you feel anything? Anything at all?" Several times, both she and Haruka had felt the same disquieting feelings. 

"No, but that doesn't mean anything and you know it. Come on, lets get out of here," Haruka said, taking Michiru's hand. They left the pool with nothing more said between them. 

Haruka handled her convertible with the same care and precision that she handled her racing car, so within moments she and Michiru were free of downtown Tokyo and wheeling through the suburbs. As trees flashed by, Michiru found herself reflecting on the way things had been for her. It had all started for her with that recurring dream just over three years ago. Darkness ripped apart a blood-red Tokyo with only lone figures standing defiantly to defend it. They, too, were ripped apart. And it had ended then. Disturbed by the intensity of the dream, she had painted it with an expert hand as a sort of mind-easing therapy. And then the figure had come to her, calling herself the Guardian of Time and revealing to Michiru her true destiny - that of a warrior. 

Not long after, her painting that she had entitled 'The Destruction of the World' was featured at a local art gallery. This act, whether by chance or something more, brought Haruka to her. She had experienced the same dream and didn't know what to make of it. She sought answers, answers Michiru didn't have at the time and so was rather brusque with Haruka. It wasn't until later when the Guardian of Time, later to be named Sailorpluto or Setsuna to her friends, came to her again and revealed Haruka's place in the world - ruler of the skies, Sailoruranus. 

She had given Haruka a choice to embrace her destiny, something that she herself was never given. "Once you touch that henshin wand, your life will not be the same," she had told Haruka in warning, intending to make her realize what she was getting herself into. But still Haruka had accepted this and touched the wand, revealing to her all the knowledge that had been saved for her since the time of the Moon Kingdom's downfall. Life hadn't been the same since, but they had learned early on that each of them had been unconsciously seeking the other out, the other half of their soul.   
"You seem quieter than usual, Michiru," Haruka commented as she drove, glancing at her from across the seat.   
Michiru's thoughts scattered at Haruka's comment, and she replied, "I'm just thinking." 

"About......?" Haruka persisted, returning her eyes to the road. "We keep no secrets." 

Michiru smiled faintly. "You know me well enough that I couldn't keep anything from you if I wanted to, Haruka. No secrets. Just reflecting." 

"Forget the past; what's over is over. Concentrate on now," Haruka said quietly, placing a hand over Michiru's. 

"You cannot forget the past without losing sight of the future," Michiru said, smiling wryly at the way she sounded. 

"You've been spending too much time with Setsuna. You're starting to sound like her," Haruka observed. Michiru simply laughed. 

Haruka pulled up in front of the nondescript iron gate that broke the high stone walls that surrounded the property. She pushed a button on a small controller and allowed the gates to slowly and silently open and allow them onto their property. 

After the whole Chaos episode, Haruka and Michiru had given up their penthouse apartment in favor of something more quiet and secluded. Between the money from Haruka's successful racing career and Michiru's artwork and occasional appearances at concerts with her violin, they could easily afford to buy and maintain the sprawling mansion on their twenty-or-so acres of land. Not only did it give them privacy when it came to not-so-frequent senshi meetings, it also deterred all the fans who still thought that tomboy Haruka was male. 

The racer drove up the long curving driveway and stopped before the three-story mansion. A girl no more than thirteen burst from the doorway and ran up laughing as the couple exited the car. "Haruka-papa! Michiru-mama!" she exclaimed happily. "You're home early today!"   
Haruka and Michiru exchanged amused glances, and Haruka said, "Yes, Hotaru. Is Setsuna about?"   
Hotaru followed the couple as they walked up the cobbled walkway, responding, "Yup, in fact, she just returned a few hours ago." 

"Good. We need to talk with her," Haruka said, opening the door and allowing the two women to proceed her. 

Hotaru stopped just inside the spacious hall and looked back at Haruka and Michiru closely. "Is something wrong?" she asked carefully, watching for any reactions from the two. 

Michiru smiled warmly at the girl and responded, "We're not sure. Its probably nothing, but one can't be too careful. Now go run and find Setsuna. We'll be in the den." 

Accepting this response without further questioning, Hotaru ran up the curving staircase leading to the upper floors, shouting back as she ran, "Ami-chan sent us a letter, its on the table!" 

"I think she's finally returning to normal," Michiru observed as Hotaru's voice faded away above them. After Tomoe Hotaru had been possessed by Mistress 9 and later purified by Sailormoon using the ginzuishou, it had been decided by Setsuna and agreed to by Professer Tomoe that it would be best if Hotaru, senshi of death and destruction Sailorsaturn, came to live with Haruka and Michiru. After being reborn through the power of the ginzuishou, she rapidly sped through childhood, and by the time a year had gone by, she had matured a full four years. It had been like this for three years now, and Hotaru was finally showing signs of slowing. "Its good that she can finally enjoy a real life." 

"Maybe," Haruka said, not souding like she fully agreed. The pair took a detour through the kitchen where Haruka picked up Mizuno Ami's letter and both of them walked through the lower floor to the den in the south corner where it recieved sun nearly all day through the multitudes of floor-to-ceiling windows. It was spacious enough to sit the entire senshi team comfortably with room left over, and so most of them were held there. 

Haruka sat herself down on one of the small couches, Michiru settling in beside her. Haruka slid the letter out of the envelope and began reading the neat, precise handwriting. "Ami's doing well in Germany," Haruka said after a moment of reading. "She says that she'll be done with her studies within the next two years." 

"She'll make an excellent doctor," Michiru said with a smile. "Just like her mother." 

"They've all started doing remarkably well," Haruka said. She put Ami's letter back into its envelope and sat in the warm sunlight quietly with Michiru. They didn't talk, merely enjoyed the presence of each other and spending time in quiet meditation as they waited for Hotaru to return with Setsuna. The guardian of the Gates of Time came and went as she pleased, sometimes gone for a week or more only to return with barely a word of explanation aside from enigmatic answers. But they had learned long ago to accept this without question as just another part of their less-than-normal lives. They trusted each other's actions. 

Meioh Setsuna breezed through the arched doorway leading into the spacious den then, long hair such a dark shade of green that it looked black swinging behind her as she walked. Hotaru was hot on her heels, and quickly slipped by the older woman to settle herself in her favorite chair. Setsuna sat down more slowly, facing the two that were already present. 

"Hello, Setsuna," Michiru greeted the elder woman. "How have you been?" Being in such a large mansion gave the four of them some much-needed space, and often a day or more might go by before they saw each other. 

"Fine, thank you," Setsuna replied evenly. "But you appear to have something on your mind, Michiru." 

Michiru hesitated momentarily, looking appraisingly at Hotaru who sat still and quiet in her chair, listening to the three. "I felt something today, Setsuna," she said after a moment. "The seas are in upheaval."   
A slight frown creased Setsuna's dark brow, but her expression never changed. Glancing at Haruka, Setsuna asked, "And you? Did you sense something as well?" 

Haruka shook her head. "No, but often Michiru senses things before I do. The fact I felt nothing doesn't mean anything," she said, almost defensively. 

"Yes, but I have not sensed anything either," Setsuna said after a moment, returning her reddish eyes to Michiru. "Are you sure of what you felt, Michiru? Never before has one of you sensed anything before I have." 

"You HAVE been working yourself hard lately, Michiru-mama," Hotaru piped up, almost sounding apologetic. "Maybe you only THOUGHT you felt something." 

Michiru stiffened, looking at her two friends in mute outrage. Haruka squeezed her arm, conveying that she at least believed her, but even she was upset that nobody believed Michiru and she glared cooly at Setsuna and Hotaru. Finally regaining her composure, Michiru rose gracefully and said in a quiet, icy voice, "I know what I felt." With that simple statement, she left the den with her head held high in defiance, Haruka only a step behind her.   
"Setsuna, did we say the wrong thing?" Hotaru asked worriedly after the pair had departed. "I didn't mean to hurt her." 

Setsuna sighed and rose tiredly, as if all the centuries she had spent outside the flow of time, guarding the Gates of Time, were finally catching up to her. "You merely spoke the truth, Hotaru." 

The girl followed Setsuna out of the room silently, finally saying with a sigh, "But she sounded so sure of herself." Having said that, she turned down a side corridor, making for the backyard where she might gain some quiet, leaving Setsuna to watch her go. 

"She did, didn't she...." she mused to herself. 

************************************* 

As she sipped her coffee, Michiru stared moodily out at the passing Tokyo people. Haruka had taken her to the coffee shop both of them frequented, realizing that her lover was in no state of mind to remain at the mansion. Michiru's pride and confidence in herself had been questioned, and now she had begun to question herself. Looking back on the last few weeks, she HAD been pushing herself more than she normally did, lining up performance after performance and still finding time to practice both swimming and her violin. Maybe Hotaru had been right; maybe some part of her was jumping at shadows after all she had been through. 

"Don't second-guess yourself, Michiru. I trust in what you felt," Haruka said quietly, correctly guessing the aqua-haired woman's line of thought. 

Her words cut through Michiru's thoughts. Rarely did Haruka offer support to her in this way, perferring instead to be the silent rock to lean on when she needed it. "But I HAVE been driving myself, Haruka. Maybe Hotaru was right...." 

Haruka looked at her sternly over the rim of her china cup, a look Michiru couldn't ever remember being used on her. "If I didn't love you so, I would laugh in your face, Michiru," Haruka said calmly, her stern expression never wavering. "You almost sound as if you were looking for pity." 

Michiru drew herself up straight in her booth, refusing to take that from even Haruka. "You presume too much!" she declared cooly as Haruka's stern face turned to one of faint amusement. "I don't want your pity, nor anyone elses!" 

Haruka placed one of her hands over Michiru's clenched one on the table and said quietly but firmly, "Then stop talking as if you are."   
Michiru sighed and relaxed. "I'm sorry, Haruka. Its been a long battle to get where we are now. I just hate the thought that this quiet might be only an illusion," Michiru said lowly, guiltily, as if ashamed of herself for even thinking it. 

"The day we stop fighting will be the day its over for everyone, Michiru," Haruka said, squeezing her hand. 

Faint amusement glittered in Michiru's somber eyes as she responded, "Who's been spending too much time with Setsuna NOW?" The blonde smirked. 

They remained in the coffee shop until dusk had settled over Tokyo and streetlights had begun to light up the streets. Haruka had driven Michiru on her red motorcycle, simply as a change of pace for them. Michiru rode behind Haruka, gripping her waist with her hands as leverage as the two sped through the slightly chill air. Haruka was heading back to the mansion, Michiru could see, and she figured maybe that was for the best. 

As they left Tokyo under cover of near nightfall, Michiru felt herself become increasingly ill-at-ease. Not with Haruka's driving, though she drove eratically, Michiru felt exhilerated by the speed. No, this was something else. The feeling increased as they drove, filling Michiru with a sort of dread. Vaguely she heard the low crash of ocean waves in her helment she wore, crashing eratically on invisible rocks. "Haruka...." she managed to get out, but her words were lost in the rushing of the wind. 

Remotely, Michiru saw an intersection approaching, the last one before their mansion. As they just began passing though, Michiru looked to the right and saw a large truck bearing down on them, nearly invisible without its headlights on. Michiru saw that it was too late for either of them to stop and screamed, reflexively releasing Haruka and throwing up her hands. She heard Haruka swear loudly. Time slowed. Michiru felt the truck slam into the motorcycle just behind where she sat. Out of control, the motorcycle rolled over again and again, sending her flying through the air. She heard a loud crunch and she jerked to an abrupt halt and fell to the ground. She didn't feel anything. Didn't move. 

She didn't know how long she lay there before she felt someone move her. Michiru's vision faded in and out. "Michiru?! MICHIRU!" somebody cried out, a familiar-sounding voice but her mind curiously wouldn't allow the face to surface. She was tired, and it was hard to take in breaths. 

Her vision swam into focus, revealing a blonde-haired girl holding her hand. "Haruka...." she breathed, grasping onto the identity of the person before her like a lifeline.   
"Don't speak," Haruka said sharply, fear behind her voice. "Help is on the way. Hold on." Michiru squeezed Haruka's hand as best she could, knowing inwardly that it may be too late. 

"~Come~" a voice said commandingly in her head. Michiru felt herself being torn apart, divided into two parts. She closed her eyes on Haruka and grappled with the unseen hands, desperate to keep her purchase on Earth. But they ignored her efforts and, with a final tug, Michiru was floating above her body. Haruka was holding her stiffened hand, looking back anxiously at the ambulance that had just arrived. "~Come~" the voice repeated, more urgent this time, and the world around Michiru faded to black. 

******************************** 

She was first aware of the gentle rythmic sound of a tranquil ocean crashing closeby and thought it to be all in her head. But as her senses began to right themselves one by one, she began to smell and taste the salty air and feel herself lying on something like sand. She opened her eyes. 

She was greeted by the sight of an ocean that stretched out to greet the crystal blue sky at the horizon. To her left and right as she turned her head slightly, white sands stretched out farther than the eye could see. Somewhere above her, the sun shone gently down on her, though she wasn't too warm. Wondering where she was and how she had gotten there in the first place, Michiru rose to her feet. Not until she was standing did she remember the accident, and she immediately looked down at herself. No injuries, not even any tears in the fabric of her clothes. Suprised, Michiru took renewed interest in her surroundings, an ugly suspicion forming in her mind. 

"You seem bewildered, warrior of oceans," an amused voice said from behind Michiru. 

She wheeled around, ready for nearly anything except what she saw. "Who said that?" she asked suspiciously, eyes glancing around. There was nothing that she could see before her, though the voice sounded close. 

A slight rippling in the air before her caught her attention, small shimmerings just barely discernable in the bright daylight. "I am what you are," it replied simply. 

"What do you mean?" Michiru asked, circling warily around the glitters that moved lazily in the air. 

"What I mean isn't always apparent at first glance," it replied, either unaware or uncaring of the close scrutiny. "But neither of those questions matter much."   
Michiru stepped back, attempting to puzzle out the enigmatic being before her. "Very well, what questions DO matter?" Michiru asked carefully, running a hand through her blue-green hair. 

"You tell me." 

At this point, Michru's temper, which she had prided herself with keeping up until then, boiled over. "Look," she said angrily, stepping forward. "I don't know who or what you are, nor do I much care. All I want to know is, where am I?" 

"What you mean to ask is, 'Am I dead?'" It replied calmly, impassively. When Michiru didn't reply, it went on. "No, you are not dead. That is, not yet." 

"Not yet?" Michiru pressed, determined to recieve at least one clear answer. 

"Beyond here, we will all pass on," it replied. "Even you." 

Frustrated, Michiru asked, "Have I been brought here to debate philosophy and puzzle out ambiguous answers from a bit of glitter in the air?" 

"What do you wish?" the shimmer asked abruptly, seemingly shifting in place. "Be honest. I know you better than you think."   
Michiru fell silent, contemplating the question presented to her. "What does what I wish have to do with this place and why I am here?" she asked finally. 

"What do you wish?" it repeated. 

Michiru squelched her frustrated anger before she could act on it, clearing her mind and weighing her options. What DID she wish? After a moment of intense thought, she realized that she didn't wish for anything. "Everything I need I've already found," Michiru replied carefuly. "I need nothing from shimmers in the air that don't believe in straight answers." She couldn't keep a hint of contempt out o fher voice no matter how hard she tried. 

"Ahh, you may think you need nothing, Sailorneptune, but I know better. You desire peace so you and Sailoruranus might live more happily together," the glitter said wisely. "You no longer wish to be a senshi." 

"That is a lie!" Michiru shot back without thinking. 

"The only lie told here is the one to yourself," the glimmer said, its voice intensifying slightly. "I speak only truth. It is not my fault that you do not wish to hear it." 

"I don't agree with what you say," Michiru said with a toss of her head, her voice almost uneasy. 

"You may not agree, but that doesn't change what is," the voice shot back. Then, in a gentler voice, it went on, "You needn't be afraid of admitting what is true, you know. There's no one around to hear your confession." 

"I confess to nothing!" Michiru returned sharply. "And I resent the fact that I have been brought to wherever this is to be asked meaningless questions!" 

"It is no matter whether you agree," the voice said, ignoring Michiru's last comment. "I know I speak the truth, so I shall give you a taste of what you hunger for." 

A small tingle began at the bottoms of her feet and expanded outward until her whole body tingled, then it was gone. "You now have peace, but will it be worth it?" the voice asked, sounding amused. Then it vanihed, sparkles and all, before Michiru could question it. 

Michiru didn't relax long, for almost immediately, her sense began jangling alarmingly, warning Michiru that evil was nearby. Cries rang out from down the beach, Michiru wheeling around to see Haruka and Usagi transformed and fighting ineffectively against some rock-born monster. As she watched, too startled to take action, one of the monster's great hands came down and clamped around Sailormoon. The other knocked Sailoruranus to the ground and closed over her, pressing her harder and harder into the dense white sand. "Michiru! Help!" Sailoruranus cried, looking desperately up at her. 

The cry jolted her to action, raising a hand into the air and clasping it around the golden wand that came to her summons. Her arm still raised, she shouted, "Neptune Planet Power, MAKE-UP!" Nothing happened. An icy shock of fear raced across her skin and through her veins, her arm slowly lowering as she looked at the wand, dumbstruck. As if sensing that it wasn't needed, the wand vanished in her hand. 

"AHH!" Usagi's cry of pain jerked Michiru out of her shock and brought her to action. She raced forward between the rock-giant's legs, taunting him and egging him on. One hand around Usagi and the other pressing Haruka inexhorably further into the sand, the giant roared in rage and frustration, attempting to kick out at her with its legs. Fortunately for the senshi, this act unbalanced the giant, and with a roar of rage, he fell backward. Usagi leaped nimbly from the giant's released hand, however Haruka was still pinned as before. "Haruka!" Usagi yelled, racing for the giant's hand, her Moon Tier in one hand. 

Michiru intercepted the running Sailormoon and tackled her to the ground just as the giant's free hand swept over where Usagi had been standing. "Michiru! Help me!" Haruka cried in a pain-filled voice as Michiru returned to her feet. 

Something about the way Haruka had said these words made Michiru pause. In all the time they had known each other, Haruka had never asked for help. She looked closely at Sailoruranus, ignoring Usagi who was yelling something at her. Haruka's pain-etched face looked at her desperately between the giant's fingers, one arm flayed out on the sand - here, Michiru froze. On Haruka's wrist was a golden bracelet. "~IMPOSSIBLE!~" her mind cried, memories of those very same bracelets being around her own wrists, making her one of Galaxia's pawns. She had been evil, had done evil things, but at the last minute both she and Haruka, who had been enslaved as well, overcame the bracelet's power, and they were freed. However, this act cost both of them their lives, and it was only by the power of Sailormoon and the ginzuishou that they were revived again. "No..." she whispered, taking a step back. "Its not possible!" 

"What? What is it, Michiru?" Usagi asked, peering at her curiously. Somewhere beyond Michiru's reeling senses, the giant roared again.   
"....Nothing, Sailormoon," Michiru replied, drawing in a shaky breath and coming to a decision. She held Usagi with her eyes and said sternly, "I want you to run, Sailormoon. Run far away from here and don't look back. This fight will be too much for you." 

"No, Michiru, I can't do that. How can you ask me to do such a thing when we have to help Sailoruranus?" Usagi asked, her youthful face frowned in confusion. Half-turning away from Michiru, Usagi began to run again toward the giant and Haruka, both seemingly frozen. 

Michiru darted forward and grabbed Usagi's shoulders roughly, spinning her around to face her. "My number one duty as Sailorneptune is to guard your life, Princess, to protect you from harm. This battle will destroy you, Usagi, and I cannot allow that." Michiru knew that, if it came to fighting Haruka, destroying one of her dear friends would crush Usagi's battered will. The fight had been long and hard for the senshi of justice, for she had been fighting longer than even Michiru herself. 

"And it will not destroy you as well?" Usagi asked, puzzled. 

Michiru smiled faintly. "It may very well destroy me. But I ask you to trust me and leave this place," she said. With a sudden burst of insight, she added, "You don't belong here anyway." 

Wise understanding appeared on Usagi's face, and with an approving nod, she vanished. Not fully suprised, Michiru returned her attention to the battle. The giant was gone and Sailoruranus was standing not twenty feet from where she stood untransformed, Michiru saw, startled. 

"There's no need to keep up appearances anymore, is there?" Sailoruranus asked in an alien voice. It was Haruka's yet at the same time it wasn't, so threaded with hate and malice that it was given a new sound. "You have ruined the plans." 

Michiru's mind raced. Untransformed as she was, she didn't stand a chance against Haruka if it came to a fight. Which she prayed fervently that it wouldn't. "Chaos and Galaxia are gone, Haruka. Who has done this to you?" She asked, nearly choking on her words. 

Sailoruranus threw her head back and laughed, the cold, mocking sound sending chills up Michiru's spine. "You fool! Chaos can never be contained! The universe needs evil just as it needs good. We are the balancing force. Yet we are not content with this, so we seek more. And you senshi are they only beings that might possess enough power to stand in our way. Were it not for Galaxia's weak heart, Chaos would have reigned supreme!" the evil senshid eclared. "But I am not weak, as you know. Not even for you, Michiru. That is why Chaos chose me. I will succeed where Galaxia failed." 

Without warning, Sailoruranus dashed forward, covering the ground between them in the blink of an eye. Michiru was only just able to duck and roll away from the blows Haruka tried to land on her. She rose slowly to her feet, analyzing and discarding strategy after strategy. Everything revolved around Sailorneptune, her alter-ego that she somehow couldn't become. Sudden clarity struck her then, of what the mysterious being had given her. "~Is this punishment?~" Michiru cried out mentally as Sailoruranus began to charge once again, knowing she couldn't dodge this next attack. 

"Punishment? But you wanted peace. I gave you what you craved," the voice said beside her. Time seemed frozen, Haruka stopped midstride not five feet from where she stood, golden bracelets glittering coldly in the sun. 

Michiru turned to face the sparkles that had appeared. "What does peace have to do with stripping me of my powers?" Michiru demanded. "And what have you done to Haruka?" 

"Your powers brought you into battles. Take the powers away and you have no reason to fight, giving you peace," the voice explained patiently. "Do you wish your powers back?" 

"Yes!" Michiru said desperately. 

"Do you know what you must do once you regain them?" it continued. 

Michiru took in a deep breath and said, "Yes." Her voice grated harshly in her throat. 

"Very well," the voice said. A pale aqua glow appeared before her, intensifying and elongating until a bright flash caused Michiru to shield her eyes. When she looked again, she was started to see a large trident floating before her, dark aqua except for silvershod tips. "Are you worthy?" the voice asked of Michiru as the senshi started reaching for it.Michiru stopped, thought a moment, then replied confidently, "I've sworn to defend the Princess from harm, to place her life above my own. I have succeeded. I am worthy." 

"Yes you are, ruler of Neptune. You have proven yourself worthy of this title," the voice said. "Grasp your birthright and do what you must." 

Without being urged a second time, Michiru reached out and grasped the weapon before her. In a rush, Michiru felt her transformation overcome her, filling her ears with the sound of a thousand oceans and shocking her senses with a feeling akin to being doused with icy water. Sailorneptune stood where Michiru had been only a moment ago. Swallowing, she opened her closed eyes. 

Sailoruranus charged her, a perverted form of her Space Sword held above her. Hate glittered in her cobalt eyes, and her face was twisted into a rictus of contempt. Getting a better grip on the trident she still held, Sailorneptune raised it as Sailoruranus bore down on her. She instinctively closed her eyes. 

(......not Haruka....) 

> (.......she's a monster.....) 
>
>> (.....death is the only way......) 

Sailorneptune felt a shock ripple though the trident and up her arms, as if something had rammed it. 

> (......its not Haruka........) 

Everything was still. Sailorneptune opened her eyes, closed, she believed, to avoid witnessing the enevitable. The trident had struck true, and Sailoruranus hung at its end, the tips buried deep 

> (......not Haruka.......) 

into her chest. Suprise registered on Sailoruranus's face, her dilated eyes wide in shock. The Space Sword vanished from nerveless fingers, and with a superhuman effort, Sailoruranus pulled herself off the trident. Blood started flowing, a dark red rush that fell and pattered 

> (.....she was a monster. Chaos....) 

on the white sand and creating vivid red slashes. Falling to her knees and gripping her chest, Sailoruranus took one look up at Sailorneptune. Her blue eyes were clear. Untainted. Not evil. Unable to bear anymore, Sailorneptune flung the bloodied weapon away and ran. The ground beneath her shattered, pitching her headlong into darkness. 

******************************* 

> (You have passed.)   
(Passed? Passed what?)   
(The test. You are worthy to defend the Queen. Have a care, however. Who you fought at the end was something of your own mind's creation. As well as the outcome.)   
(What do you mean?)   
(It was meant as a warning. A vision, if you will.)   
(Something that will come to pass?)   
(Perhaps. The road to the future has many branches.)   
(Who are you?)   
(I am what you are. Nothing more.) 

****************************** 

Michiru came awake, clawing ineffectively with her bound-up arms at the stark-white sheet that covered her body. She felt tears coursing down her cheeks, blurring the room she lay in. "Haruka!" she rasped harshly, her throat achy and constricted. 

"Michiru! Its alright, I'm here!" her lover's voice said over Michiru's near-hysteria. Her normal voice. Michiru allowed her tear-filled eyes to clear, hardly daring to breathe. 

The stark, sterilized walls of a hospital room sprang at her, only broken by the small window on her left. An attempt at cheering the room up lay in the faded blue curtain and in a pair of matching blue padded chairs, but these objects seemed out of place and did nothing to lessen the starkness. Haruka sat in one of these chairs, her blonde hair tousled and unkept and dark circles under both her eyes proved at a glance taht she had not gotten much sleep. "Where....?" Michiru asked, too bewildered and disoriented to form complete thought. Her eyes slid to her exposed hands, half-expecting to see fresh blood coating them. She shuddered.   
"Tokyo Central," Haruka replied gently. "You were in bad shape after the accident. At first, the doctors didn't think - " Haruka broke off, apparently rethinking her words. "You suprised everyone, Michiru." 

"~Accident?~" Her mind asked itself. "~That was all a dream...?~" Aloud she asked, "How bad am I?" 

"Your head suffered the most because your helmet shattered after you hit..that tree. You also broke several ribs and...." Haruka hesitated, measuring Michiru with her eyes. "And both of your arms are broken. The specialists I've talked to aren't sure whether you'll regain full use of them." 

Michiru's breath caught in her throat, the implications that brought were staggering. Her swimming, her sculpting and painting, even her violin-playing....these were all affected. But even as dismay at this news swept over her, she felt her old spark and determination rise in response. "We'll see about that," she said simply, in a tone that brooked no argument. Haruka smiled, not even bothering to hide her relief. 

************************************* 

Michiru remained in the hospital for another week after waking under the watchful eyes of Mizuno Ami, who had flown in from Germany after receiving word, and her mother. Under their care and with help from her senshi alter-ego, she recovered quickly and was soon back at the mansion. As she had promised in the hospital, Michiru strove daily above and beyond her required physical therapy to become as she was before the accident. At first it seemed impossible, her arms so painful at times that she was forced to double her pain medication. But she grit her teeth and weathered the pain, refusing to give in and give up her lifestyle. Her persistance paid off in the long run, for it grew easier and easier for her, and within the course of a month, she was at her former strength. 

She waited a long time afterward before she allowed herself to reflect back on what had happened to her, hung up on whether it was merely a dream brought upon by her trauma (she had heard of such things occurring to people before, she could swear), or something more. If it was, in fact, something more, what did it all mean? She didn't want to think that she would be forced to fight Haruka, but what other meaning could there be? 

Finally, her indecision brought her to Setsuna one afternoon several months following the accident. Catching her alone, Michiru sat the keeper of Time down and forced herself to relate all that had happened while unconscious. Setsuna remained quiet throughout Michirus tale, her face smooth and impassive, betraying no hint of what she was thinking. She was silent for a few moments after Michiru had brought forth the question that had been bothering her all that time. "In all the time I spent at the Gate, in all the traversings of time I did, only once have I heard anything akin to what you just described," Setsuna said finally, looking down at her tea meditatively. "It was far into the future, at a time when Serenity and Endymion were preparing to step down and allow Small Lady to ascend. In that particular time, trouble was building beyond this planet, lurking just inside Serenity's sphere of awareness. I was observing silently, when I heard Small Lady, at that time nearly eighteen, ask, 'and what of the Outers? Couldn't they help us?' To which Serenity replied, 'they would if they were still around. But I was told after ascending the throne that they wouldn't ever be around.'" Here, Setsuna paused to take a swallow of her cooling tea. "When Small Lady asked why, Serenity told her that she didn't know, but a voice had come to her in a dream and explained that the outer senshi had been tested and they had failed. All of the outer senshi." 

Michiru let the silence stretch out before asking, "So it wasn't a dream?" 

"No. Nothing that vivid is ever merely a dream." 

"But, if that's true, how is it that I passed my test when you say that we are doomed to failure? And what does the warning at the end mean?" Michiru persisted.   
"What I witnessed was only one of an infinite number of possible futures," Setsuna said, sounding infinitely tired. "And as for the warning, I do not know. Its meaning escapes me." 

Michiru sighed. "Then there's nothing we can do and no way to find out anything more. We're forced to wait." As an afterthought, Michiru asked, "Should I tell Haruka and Hotaru of this?" 

Setsuna shook her head. "Better they discover it on their own. If they are to be tested as well, our telling them will influence their decisions." 

"And what of you?" 

Setsuna smiled faintly. "The sort of test I would be put through is something nothing could prepare me for." 

Michiru said nothing, merely looked at the guardian of time, Sailorpluto, feeling something akin to pity. Setsuna had lived for hundreds of generations outside the normal flow of time, seen much that had hardened her spirit and had changed the way she looked at life. After a minute or two of silence, Michiru quietly rose and left the room. 

Setsuna bowed her head after Michiru had departed, sighing to herself. There was more she knew of what Michiru had been through, but she told herself that none of what she knew would make anything easier when the time came. Silently she rose with her empty cup and started for the kitchen, feeling like the burden that had been put upon her shoulders had just doubled. 

********************************** 

[| Crystal Trials - Fear of Shadows |][5]   
[| Stories |][6]   
[| Home |][7]

   [1]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/plutocol.JPG
   [2]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/Neptcol.JPG
   [3]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/Urancol.JPG
   [4]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/saturncol.JPG
   [5]: http://www.www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/misc/hotaru.html
   [6]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/stories.html
   [7]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/index.html



	2. Fear of Shadows

Crystal Trials - Fear of Shadows

Here's the second in this set, and the third is over a third of the way written. I'm not entirely sure I like how this one turned out, mainly because I'm not exactly used to writing in Hotaru's personality, so it turned out a bit..screwed up IMHO. I added links to picture collages throughout this story to give readers a better idea of what I'm talking about. Haruka fans stay tuned, for though she doesn't play a role in this one, she's the star of the next one, which is turning out WONDERFULLY. As before, keep in mind that, in Japan, last names are first, so Tsukino Usagi would be Usagi Tsukino here in America: 

Main Characters 

  
[Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn][1]   
[Chibi-Usa - Sailorchibimoon][2]   
[Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune][3]

Mentioned, but do not play a major role

  
[Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto][4]   
[Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus][5]   
Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon   
Chiba Mamoru - Tuxedo Kamen (Tuxedo Mask for you dubbed children)   
Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury   
Hino Rei - Sailormars   
Kino Makoto - Sailorjupiter   
Aino Minako - Sailorvenus 

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

************************************** 

She woke in the dead of the night, drenched in sweat and a scream on her lips. Bolt-upright in bed, her ragged breath rasped harshly past the held scream and sounded unnaturally loud in the still room. Realizing where she was, she forced herself to unclench the sheet bunched between white-knuckled fists and swallowed the scream. To steady herself, her eyes sought the familiar curves and edges of her tidy room, seeking comfort from its familiarity. 

When she felt steadier than before, she swung her legs out of bed and rose, navigating her room in the nearly pitch-darkness as effortlessly as if it had been full daylight. She passed from her bedroom into her personal bathroom, reaching out for the switch on the wall and switching it on. Three lamps placed in varying places on the walls cast a soft glow over the whole of the clean bathroom; onto the combination bath and shower against the wall on her left, onto the toilet directly across from her, onto the sink and counter running the length of the wall on her right. After a few moments of blinking owlishly in the sudden light, her eyes readjusted themselves and she could see her reflection in the mirror above the marbled counter without discomfort. 

Her face, pale even under normal circumstances, was ghost-white, nearly translucent. Her short black hair, tousled from sleep, only made her face look that much paler and made her wide violet eyes look sunken. Overall, she looked a wreck. She ran cold water out of the brass faucet in the sink and splashed her face a few times, as if to wash away the dream still fresh in her mind. 

They thought she had forgotten after being reborn, had pursued this hope even after she regained her identity and her power. But she had remembered, a small part of her retaining the memories and waiting for a time when she was of an age to appreciate them. And they all stemmed from who she was. 

Even after these five years, remembering still was painful, remembering how her father had used her as his pawn to acquire power. A [respected scientist][6], she didn't realize until it was nearly too late exactly what the so-called 'experiments' in the basement of their large-ish residence entailed. All of his experiments centered around bringing to rise the evil being she unknowingly harbored inside of her and gain power beyond his comprehension. The person she most feared: [the Dark Messiah, Mistress 9][7]. 

It wasn't her father's fault exactly, for she also knew that what he did, he did because he himself was being possessed by evil as well. A rather complicated situation unless you lived it. 

Staring at her reflection in the mirror, Tomoe Hotaru shuddered as she recalled the inner battle she had waged to right the wrongs her power running unchecked was creating. Finally, in the final struggle between her and Mistress 9, the untaintable power yet inside her was unleashed and Mistress 9 was destroyed, at the cost of her body. Yet Sailormoon, in her infinite kindness and compassion, realized that Hotaru couldn't help what had happened to her under the influence of the evil power inside her, used the power of the ginzuishou and saved her before she was totally lost. [She was reborn][8]. 

After this incident, her father, then cleansed of the evil inside of him, decided it was best to give her up to Tenoh Haruka and Kaioh Michiru, otherwise known as Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune, to raise. She was told by the couple that it was because her father didn't feel that he was worthy of raising her any longer, but she had known the truth. Mistress 9 wasn't gone as they all wished she had, for she was as much a part of her as the part of her that is Sailorsaturn was. And she needed to be surrounded by people that could stop her. 

Hotaru splashed her face once more then, after a last glance in the mirror, she clicked the light switch off and returned to bed. She hoped there would be no more nightmares that night. To wish for no more nightmares ever would be too much to wish for. 

***************************** 

When she woke, the nightmare of the night before had faded some, still there but not as clearly defined as before. Hotaru rose slowly, stretching in the sunlight that streamed onto her bed from the newly-risen sun. She was to go to a picnic today with Usagi, Chibiusa, and Mamoru at the botanical gardens she loved. It was nearly the first time since Usagi as Sailormoon had driven away Chaos that she had spent with any of the Inner Senshi, and she was looking forward to the picnic. Glancing at the clock, she saw she only had a little more than an hour to prepare herself, and hurriedly rose. 

After a shower, she descended the stairs to the ground level dressed in jeans and a purple shirt. When she had came to live in the mansion, she had thrown out all her old clothes, not only because they reminded her of life before becoming Sailorsaturn, but also because she had matured since then and thought all the dark dresses and clothes she used to own to be old-fashioned. 

Entering the kitchen, she saw Michiru sitting at the far end of the oaken table in the adjoining dining room. She was sipping tea and staring moodily down at a blank piece of paper, her eyes distant. Her blue-green hair was pulled back away from her face, revealing one jagged scar working its way across her forehead just below the hairline, a momento from her terrible accident months previous. There were other scars, but none were in so prominent a place as the one on her head. She was rather self-conscious about it too, though she did her best not to show it. "Good morning, Michiru," Hotaru said warmly, coming to stand before the table. "How are you?" 

Michiru looked up from the paper, startlement clear in her aqua eyes. But she regained her composure and responded, "Fine, thanks. How did you sleep?" 

"Fine," Hotaru said glibely, effortlessly skipping around the truth. She knew that Michiru, Haruka, and Setsuna all suspected something from the seemingly innocent questions they asked probingly, but even they couldn't know how much she already knew. "Are you planning on drawing something?" she asked, gesturing at the paper before Michiru. 

"I don't know," she replied with a sigh. "I haven't done many pencil sketches. Perhaps something for Haruka." 

Hotaru nodded solemnly, her head lifting as she heard a car pull up in front of the mansion and honk, the sound floating in through the bank of open windows in the dining room. "There's my ride. Bye Michiru!" Hotaru said hastily, leaving the dining room. 

"Be careful, Hotaru!" Michiru's voice said as she departed. There was something in her voice that almost made Hotaru return and ask what she meant, for it sounded almost as if she meant it more than one way. Hoever she didn't and departed out the front door to where Chiba Mamoru was parked in his red sportscar. 

"Hotaru-chan!" two sets of voices choroused from inside the car as she approached, and Mamoru smiled a greeting. 

Opening the back door, she slid in next to Chibiusa, her best friend since they had met. "Hi Chibiusa-chan!" she said to the girl only a year younger than herself. She had eyes an unusual shade of red and a ready smile, her bubblegum-pink hair done up in odangos. Chibiusa was dressed in her favorite denim overalls and pink striped shirt. After seeing Chibiusa's smile, Hotaru turned to the girl turned around in the front seat and said, "Hi Usagi-chan!" Tsukino Usagi had long butter-blonde hair done up in the same style as Chibiusa, though she was a full sixteen years old. Her eyes were a sparkling blue, and she too was smiling. Finally, Hotaru turned to the man driving and said, "Hi Mamoru-san!" Chiba Mamoru was nearly twenty, though he and Usagi were all but married. He had short dark hair and a more serious set to his face than the other two, though his sparkling blue eyes conveyed more emotion than his face. He was handsome, but also he was Usagi's. 

"Its nice to see you again, Hotaru," Mamoru said as he steered the sportscar down the curving drive. "How is Michiru?" 

"She's doing wonderfully," Hotaru replied. "She's just as she was before the accident." 

"That's good to hear," Usagi said with a smile. "We've been worried." 

With some urging from Hotaru, Chibiusa began speaking of what her life had been like since they had talked. She was hesitant at first, understandably so for none of them wanted to step near that touchy subject of their deaths, but she eventually lost her hesitation and began speaking more freely. Usagi chimed in more than once, and soon the two of them were off on one of their yelling fits while Mamoru drove them all, all while hiding a smile. 

************************ 

Soon Mamoru was parking his car at the gardens they had agreed to hold the picnic at. They all piled out, and while Usagi and Mamoru wrestled the picnic basket out of the trunk, Hotaru and Chibiusa went off to find the perfect spot. 

"I love this place," Chibiusa said with a sigh of contentment as the two wandered around the graveled paths. Trees were everywhere, providing shade to people as they walked. Flowers grew in cultivated plots along the paths, bright flowers in blues, greens, and yellows. In the center of it all was a large lake, and one could see several people out on wooden rowboats provided. 

"It is pretty," Hotaru agreed, eyes wandering over the whole of the park. "Where should we sit?" 

Chibiusa paused and looked around as if getting her bearings, then charged off down the small rise they had crested. "Down here, Hotaru-chan! Come on!" she called as she ran. 

Hotaru followed more slowly, picking her way carefully down the hill instead of running down after the pink-haired girl. Even now she wasn't very strong physically, and she was susceptible to dizzy spells and weakness. She knew it worried her friends when she had these sudden attacks, so she did her best not to over-exert herself. It was quite ironic, really, considering her senshi powers. 

When she reached the botton of the hill, Chibiusa was waiting at the grassy shore of the large lake. Looking around, Hotaru saw that the place Chibiusa had picked felt strongly familiar. "This is near where we met, Chibiusa," she said, all at once remembering why it seemed familiar. 

"You DO remember!" Chibiusa said happily, clapping her hands. "Stay here while I get the others." With that, she raced away back the way they had come, leaving Hotaru to watch her go with fond affection. Chibiusa had befriended her at a time when she desperately needed a friend. She had been an outcast, called a freak by her classmates for her natural (but not necessarily wanted) ability to heal with merely a touch. But Chibiusa had seen past that and insisted on being her friend. Really, Chibiusa was very much like Usagi. The girl meant everything to her. 

Just then, Hotaru heard laughter float over beyond the rise, male laughter that sounded oddly familiar. She began climbing the hill again, drawn by the voice she knew but could not place. At the top, she looked a short distance away at two figures, her breath catching in her throat. She gripped the trunk of the tree she stood under tightly. 

It was a man and a woman. The man drew her attention first, for his short, shaggy, white hair and glasses sent waves of emotion washing over her. It was [Professor Tomoe][6], her father. She studied him carefully as he and the woman drew closer to her, seeing with a pang of sadness that he was as unchanged as ever. She then turned her attention to the woman. The woman wore a long, black dress and had incredibly long, black hair. She walked with her head lowered, preventing Hotaru from glimpsing her face, yet somehow she didn't need to. Her breath stopped as she viewed what could not be. It was the woman in each of her nightmares, the object of her worst fears. Mistress 9. And she was walking arm-in-arm with her father. 

Impossible. Yet she was seeing it with her own eyes. 

As the couple passed just below her, she saw her father suddenly look up to where she was standing. Sudden recognition flashed in his eyes, followed by intense sadness and....fear. 

"Hotaru-chan!" Chibiusa's voice rang out, mercifully distracting her momentarily from the awful sight she was beholding. She looked to her left where Chibiusa was leading Usagi and Mamoru, the picnic basket between them. As Chibiusa neared, her expression changed from one of happiness to one of concern. "Hotaru-chan, what's wrong?" she asked. 

"I - " Hotaru started, automatically looking back to where her father had been walking with that awful woman. They were no longer in sight, though she had only looked away for a few seconds. "Nothing," she finished, trying her best to sound convincing. "~It was all your imagination. It was all your imagination. It was.....~" her mind repeated over and over again, a mantra to right her disoriented senses. 

"Are you sure?" Usagi asked concernedly. "You look awfully pale." 

"I'm fine," Hotaru said with a fair approximation of a reassuring smile. I just climbed this hill too fast." She forced herself to unclench the treetrunk. 

"Shall we eat then?" Mamoru asked, successfully diverting the attention from Hotaru. He could see that something had spooked the girl, but if she didn't want to speak of it, it was her own decision. 

"Yes! Lets eat!" Usagi crowed enthusiastically, joined by Chibiusa a moment later. "I had Ikuko-mama make the most delicious..." Usagi went on, describing in excruciating detail nearly every dish in the basket, missing the knowing wink Mamoru gave Hotaru who smiled gratefully in return. 

********************************** 

Lunch was a happy affair, even for Hotaru who forced herself to focus on the conversation around her. The food was delicious, the weather was lovely, and even Usagi and Chibiusa seemed to be acting on some unspoken truce. With the conversation going on around her, it was easy to forget the destinies of Mamoru, Usagi, and Chibiusa in the future. Usagi, fighter of justice and leader of the sailor senshi Sailormoon, was to become [Neo-Queen Serenity][9], ruler of Crystal Tokyo. Setsuna claimed the time of Crystal Tokyo was fast approaching, but Hotaru couldn't see anything that would indicate a change of that magnitude. Mamoru, betrothed to Usagi and protector of the sailor senshi, Tuxedo Kamen, would become [King Endymion][10]. And, proof of all this, Chibiusa (rather, [Princess Usagi][11]) and her kitten [Diana][12] came directly from the 30th Century, sent back by her mother Neo-Queen Serenity and her father King Endymion as the sailor senshi in training, Sailorchibimoon. Hotaru was eating in the presence of future royalty, though it was hard to tell from the way Usagi and Chibiusa went at each other occasionally. 

As they ate, Hotaru put behind her the events of before, counting them as merely a product of her strenuous night. She left it at that. 

"This was very good, Usagi-chan," Hotaru said as she finished up her piece of cake. "Give your mother my compliments." 

Usagi smiled and said she would, and the group of four lapsed into a contented silence. Birds chirped in the trees above and around them, and the waters of the lake lapped quietly on the nearby shore. Hotaru looked about her appreciatively at the serenity. But suddenly, a cold, crawling feeling crept across her skin, and her throat dried. She was the senshi of Death and Destruction, and if she had to put a name to the feeling she was experiencing, she would say it was like brushing up against Death itself. She disregarded her companions who were talking with each other and looked around sharply. There, coming down the hill she had been standing upon earlier, was Mistress 9, walking towards them, her black dress fluttering about her slim frame. 

Hotaru closed her eyes, telling herself it was her imagination again, her friends still talking around her. After a hurried ten-count, Hotaru opened her violet eyes again. Mistress 9 still bore down on her, a twisted smile playing across her face. She was no more than ten feet away and was closing fast. 

With a strangled cry, Hotaru stumbled to her feet and began running away, her breath harsh in her dry throat. This was too much like her nightmares. Behind her, she heard the others cry out in suprise, but still she kept running, blind panic blanketing her senses. She looked back only once, only to see Mistress 9 only a few steps behind her. Her friends were nowhere in sight. 

Still looking back as she ran across the grassy shore of the lake, she fought down the panic and clenched her hand. "Saturn Planet Pow-" she began, feeling the energy begin to swirl around her. But then, pain exploded in her mind and she knew no more. 

> (...Come...) 

"Oooooh," she moaned as she slowly came to, her head throbbing in time to her racing heart. She opened her eyes, the bright sunlight sending white-hot flashes of pain through her head. Hotaru forced herself to keep her eyes open as she slowly got to her feet, wishing all the while that her healing powers worked on herself. 

When she achieved her feet with nothing more than a queasy feeling deep in her stomach, she looked wryly at the treelimb she had crashed into during her panicked flight. Remembering her flight, she froze and glanced wildly around. Nearly within arms reach of her was Mistress 9, her neatly manicured hands drawn into claws that reached out fo her. Her face was twisted into a grimace of delight. Hotaru gasped and took a step back. 

"Greetings, warrior of Death," a voice said. 

Hotaru wheeled around, startled at the voice and responded automatically, "Don't call me that!" As she looked around for the voice's source, she added, "Where are you?" 

"Is that not who you are?" the voice asked, ignoring her second question. A small cloud of sparkles appeared before her, swirling lazily in the air. 

"Not by choice," Hotaru said firmly. "I abhor that dark part of myself that houses my power. I cannot trust it." "~Where'd THAT come from?~" She wondered. 

"Yet Death is as necessary as Life. Life without Death is Life without meaning. Death provides motivation with the knowledge that one's Life is not forever," the voice explained, then it sighed. "You are too young yet to look at any part of yourself in such a way." 

Hotaru eyed the glitter with skepticism, then asked, "Who are you? And why is SHE here?" 

"I am what you are," it replied. "And as for that woman, you tell me." 

"I.....don't understand..." Hotaru said, looking to the frozen Mistress 9 again, then around at the surrounding park. "Am I still in Tokyo?" 

The voice laughed. "It is not an easy question you ask. You are where your mind wishes you to be. I have no part in the location." 

"Then are you something from my mind as well?" Hotaru asked, frowning in puzzlement. 

"I -" the voice started, then hesitated. After a moment of thought it continued, "I am what you are. I am many things tied together into nothing. Minds do not hold me, yet I am bound to them as surely as you are bound to your power and destiny." 

"I don't understand," Hotaru repeated helplessly with a little sigh. "I wish Setsuna were here." 

"It is not required that you understand, nor is it expected," the voice said. "Sailorpluto is not here for you now; you must think for yourself." 

"~Think for myself about what?~" she asked herself sourly. Aloud, she asked, "Answer me this, then. Why is Mistress 9 here before me? She is.....she is me. I keep her contained inside myself." 

"You forget that she is a product of your mind. She is here BECAUSE she is you," the voice said patiently. 

"Can I will her away then? If she's from my mind, I must be able to control her," Hotaru said slowly, her eyes swinging momentarily back to the frozen woman. Shivering, she averted her eyes once again. 

"You may try, but things are never that easy. Besides, that would not serve the point," the voice replied. It sounded as if it were giving a lecture. 

"Then what is the point?" Hotaru asked, very near anger. 

The voice said nothing for a moment, then asked abruptly, "What do you fear?" 

Thrown by the odd question, Hotaru stared at the cloud of sparkles before her. Then, after the question had registered, she replied, "I fear that I will lose control of my power again and Mistress 9 will possess me again. I fear that she will force me to use my forbidden power." 

"Do you fear for the lives of your fellow senshi?" the voice asked probingly. "Would you stand aside and watch them die?" 

"Never. I could never stand aside and watch them die," Hotaru replied harshly. "What sort of question is that?" 

"What if it were necessary?" it persisted, the voice so low it was nearly a whisper. "What if, to save the planet from evil, you must decide between your friends' lives and your duty?" 

Struck dumb by the unfairness of the question and unable to comprehend having to choose, Hotaru could only stare. Decide? Why should she have to? 

"We shall see, then. Choose wisely, warrior of Death," the voice said, sounding satisfied. A ripple went through the air around her as the sparkles before her disappeared, Hotaru turning just in time to see Mistress 9 resume her charge. She just barely managed to lunge to one side as the lady flew past laughing evily. 

"Saturn Planet Power.....MAKE UP!" Hotaru shouted, throwing a clenched hand into the air. Utter silence descended over her as unimaginable power washed over her. Sweet, inviting power, yet the taint of what it was capable of twisted her stomach and made her skin crawl as if she had touched something unpleasant. Her Silence Glaive appeared before her, and she reached out and grabbed it with one hand. 

The moment of silence passed, and the split-second transformation revealed Sailorsaturn standing where Hotaru had been. "The ringed planet Saturn is my guardian deity, Silent Soldier of Death and Destruction, I am Sailorsaturn!" She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. 

"I know what you are," Mistress 9 rasped, her voice sounding like dry leaves rustling together. She circled around Sailorsaturn and her raised glaive. "I've come for your power, Sailorsaturn." She spoke her title mockingly. "I...have need of it." 

"Never," Sailorsaturn said flatly. "I would rather turn this glaive upon myself than give my body to you again." 

"Would you really...?" Mistress 9 returned, eyeing the glaive in Sailorsaturn's hands speculatively. 

"Stop right there!" A voice demanded from above. Within moments, the source of the voice leaped down from the tree she had been hiding in, followed by five others. The speaker was Usagi -- no, Sailormoon. "We are the agents of love and justice....." 

".....pretty Sailor Soldiers...." Here, one of her companions, pink-haired Sailorchibimoon chimed in, none other than Chibiusa. 

"Sailormoon!" 

"Sailorchibimoon!" 

"In the name of the moon, we'll punish you!" Sailormoon finished their speech with her usual gestures, copied nearly exactly by Sailorchibimoon. The other four introduced themselves as well, the blue-haired Sailormercury, the raven-haired Sailormars, the tall brunette with the ponytail Sailorjupiter, and the blonde Sailorvenus. Mistress 9 just laughed. 

"Pathetic! Just as before!" she said, still laughing. "Leave Sailorsaturn and I be. This is between her and I." 

"I cannot allow that!" Sailormoon shot back angrily. "Let her be!" 

"Very well, then I -" she started, breaking into a short scream as a purple globe of energy slammed into her side. Three more senshi dropped into the growing group, completeing the semi-circle that had formed before Mistress 9 and Sailorsaturn. Sailorneptune, Sailoruranus, and Sailorpluto had arrived. The dark woman glared daggers at the new arrivals. "Fools! You will pay for that! I'll not be gentle now!" she screeched. She made a sweeping gesture with her hands, dark energy gathering in an arc above her. The energy collapsed inward over Mistress 9 and burst outwards into the senshi. 

The black power was like nothing Sailorsaturn had felt before. It burned through her veins like liquid fire, and at the same time was so cold that it seared her skin and lungs. Her scream joined those of her fellow senshi as she thought wildly, "~She's so powerful......~" 

She must have blacked out for a moment or two, for when she realized that the agony was gone, she found herself lying facedown in the grass. Sailorsaturn raised her head weakly, her spinning mind suddenly clearing in horror. She saw her fellow senshi all lying on the ground unmoving, too still to determine whether they still lived. What drew her attention was the realization that Sailorchibimoon was being held captive by.......herself. An exact copy of Sailorsaturn stood where Mistress 9 had been, the blade of the glaive she held pressed up against the pink-haired girl's throat. 

"What's the matter, Hotaru?" the copy asked mockingly. It was Mistress 9's voice. "Not liking what you're seeing?" 

"Let her go!" Sailorsaturn demanded as she scrambled to her feet, hoping she had successfully kept the fear from her voice. "~I must save Chibiusa...~" 

Her evil copy moved the glaive she held fractionally against Sailorchibimoon's throat, a drop of blood welling out from where the skin had been pricked. "You know what I want." 

"Don't give it to her, Hotaru!" Sailorchibimoon burst out, the movement of her throat drawing more blood. "I'm not important!" 

Sailorsaturn licked her lips in indecision and shifted her hands on the haft of her glaive to achieve a better grip. Three words, that was all it would take to end Mistress 9. Even thinking the three word brought tendrils of power to gather before her, waiting for the words to be spoken and made real. "~But Chibiusa.....~" 

"Would you risk the life of a fellow senshi?" Mistress 9 sneered, thinking she had won. 

"Don't listen to her!" Chibimoon cried. 

"~Remember your duty. Remember what you swore....~" Hotaru's inner voice whispered. After she had seen what her power was capable of, Hotaru swore to herself that she would never let it into anyone else's hands, nor would she ever use its full power. "~So this is what the sparkles meant...~" she thought absently to herself. Sailorsaturn swallowed and raised her glaive. "Silence......" 

The copy's eyes widened in disbelief. Chibiusa grew still, knowing what was coming. 

".........Glaive........" 

"Would you sacrifice the future princess so easily?" the copy asked hastily. "How would your queen think of you then?" 

Sailorsaturn, her glaive glowing dark purple with witheld energy and the final word on her lips, paused. "~That's right....she's the future princess.....would I create a problem in time if Chibiusa died here? Setsuna would know.....~" Confused and undecided, Hotaru let the glowing glaive fall. "~But Setsuna always speaks of multiple futures.....what if this decision leads to one of them?~" The glow encompassing the blade of the glaive abruptly winked out. Her head lowered, Sailorsaturn said lowly, "I can't......." 

The imposter Sailorsaturn smiled ferally. 

"No! Hotaru! I'm not worth it!" Chibimoon screamed frantically. "I'm not -!" Her cry turned into a gurgle. Hotaru raised her head in time to see the copy drag the blade across her friend's throat. Blood beaded along the cut, then all at once turned into a rush. The imposter threw the girl's now-limp body away, laughing cruelly. Hotaru just stared in shock and incomprehension. 

"Now you are mine!" The copy crowed in Mistress 9's voice. All at once, it dove at the stunned Sailorsaturn. 

> (...Chibiusa...) 

When it came into contact with Hotaru, it vanished. Into her. 

> (...NO! NOT AGAIN!...)   
(...your power is mine, as it should have been from the beginning!...) 

Hotaru, shoved back into a small corner of her mind by Mistress 9, could only watch in horror as what was once her body threw its head back and laughed with Mistress 9's voice. She would not let this happen. COULD not let this happen. She could feel the mental barriers and walls she had built within her begin to crumble one by one. She began to struggle, striking out at he prison with mental hands. "~If only I could control my arms......one strike with the glaive would be all it would take......~" she thought grimly. But her efforts gave her no control, and seemed not to bother Mistress 9. 

"I have waited a long time for this moment," Mistress 9 whispered. "For the time to test my power!" 

Hotaru felt the last mental wall crumble. Power swept unchecked through her body. Dark power. Power to end the world. 

> (NO! Musn't....) 

"Death........" 

> (.......let her......) 

"Reborn....." 

> (.......do this!) 

["REVOLUTION!"][13]

> (NO!) 

Power ripped through her body and immolated it. For a brief instant, Hotaru glimpsed the bodies of her friends ripped apart by a purple-black light. Then everything went dark. 

> (You have failed.)   
(Failed what? Where am I?)   
(You have failed. I cannot answer your questions.)   
(What are you talking about?)   
(Seek out the warrior of Oceans if you wish answers. Though, she has more questions herself.)   
(Wai -) 

"......taru-chan? Hotaru-chan!" 

She groaned and opened her eyes, the bright sunlight sending bolts of pain into her aching skull. Her sun-dazzled eyes cleared, and she found Chibiusa, Usagi, and Mamoru alla round her and peering down at her in some concern. "What....what happened?" she managed to ask, struggling to a sitting position. Something didn't add up. 

"You got up and bolted," Mamoru replied slowly. "We followed you until you ran into this tree....." He trailed off, looking at Hotaru questioningly. 

"You looked like you were running from someone," Chibiusa commented, looking into Hotaru's face searchingly. 

It all came back to Hotaru then. "~It was a dream....~" she thought with some relief. But then, she recalled Mistress 9 chasing her away from the picnic and looked at the three curiously. "Nobody was there? But...I thought...." 

Mamoru and Usagi exchanged concerned glances. "Maybe we should get you home, Hotaru," Usagi said finally. "You've got a nasty bump on your forehead." 

Hotaru accepted Mamoru's help up, following him and Usagi back to the sportscar with Chibiusa beside her. She felt disoriented, as if somebody had shaken her mind and had scattered her thoughts. Several times Chibiusa had asked if she were fine, Hotaru responding automatically every time. "~Was it a dream? Or something real?~" 

************************** 

The group of three brought Hotaru back to the mansion and to the front door, where they insisted on bringing her into the house. Michiru met them in the hall. "Hotaru! What happened?" Michiru asked, touching the raised bump on the girl's forehead. 

"I....." Hotaru started, not sure what to say. "I ran into a tree," she finished lamely. 

"She was out for a few minutes," Usagi added, concern in her voice. "We thought we should bring her back." 

"Thank you, Usagi," Michiru said with a smile, though her face was clouded with thought. 

"Goodbye everyone," Hotaru said with a small smile. "I had a wonderful time, even if things didn't turn out well in the end." 

The others said their farewells quickly, son leaving Hotaru and Michiru in the hall. "Is Setsuna here?" Hotaru finally asked, unable to wait any longer. 

"No, she's gone right now, Hotaru. Why do you ask?" Michiru responded, a suspicion forming in her mind. 

"~Seek out the warrior of Oceans....~" The voice's words ran through her head. 

"Something....happened to me....I didn't tell the others...." she said finally, looking down. 

All at once, Michiru said briskly, "Lets get you to your room before we speak more. I think I know what you're going to tell me." 

******************************** 

Hours later after Michiru was sure Hotaru was asleep (she wanted to take no chances; the bump on her forehead still looked pretty ugly), she finally collapsed into a chair in the den feeling drained. Hotaru ahd told her what she had been preparing herself to hear, though she hadn't expected the outcome. "~One passed and one failed...what does this mean?~" she wondered, her head propped in her hand. "~And she fought Mistress 9....will she have to fight against herself?~" And, on the heels of that thought, "~What will Haruka face? What will I do if she fails?~" As she sat in the chair alone in the den, she realized suddenly that their future was no longer as certain as it had been before. 

********************************** 

[|Crystal Trials - Violent Winds|][14]   
[|Stories|][15]   
[|Home|][16]

   [1]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/saturncol.JPG
   [2]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/chibcol.JPG
   [3]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/Neptcol.JPG
   [4]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/plutocol.JPG
   [5]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/Urancol.JPG
   [6]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/proftom.JPG
   [7]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/mistress9.JPG
   [8]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/moonsat.JPG
   [9]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/neoqs.JPG
   [10]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/endym.JPG
   [11]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/princess.JPG
   [12]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/diana.JPG
   [13]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/rebrev.JPG
   [14]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/misc/haruka.html
   [15]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/stories.html
   [16]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/index.html



	3. Violent Winds

Crystal Trials - Violent Winds

Number three is here! It turned out pretty good, I suppose (everybody tells me I'm too hard on myself as far as my writing goes...), though I have to admit it sounds kinda rough and confusing in parts. Ever notice how hard it is to put your thoughts down on paper at times? Only Setsuna remains after this one (I haven't even STARTED hers..), and we're drawing near to the point where I tie all this together. Excited? No? I wouldn't be either :c) A few notes: I picked Munich just off the top of my head. I have no idea as to whether it has anything to do with what I said it does, so please don't e-mail me on that technicality. I'm not a racing fan, and I don't pretend to be. The same goes for Haruka's mechanic; his name is purposely American. He's from America, people :c) As before, keep in mind that, in Japan, last names are first, so Tsukino Usagi would be Usagi Tsukino here in America: 

Main Characters 

[Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus][1]   
[Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn][2]   
[Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune][3]

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

************************************** 

> (..careful on the corners...go in high, come out low..)   
(..faster....must go faster...must beat my record..)   
(..careful! Not too careless!..)   
(..only a little more..) 

She watched the posts marking the finish line flash by and slammed on the brakes, spinning the wheel expertly as she came to a halt facing the way she had come and the timeboard recording her laptimes. She waited patiently for the last number to be posted, lifting the cobalt-blue helmet off her head and shaking out her boyishly-cut short blonde hair. The racers she competed against all thought she was male, something she never discouraged. It was just easier that way. 

The blank spot next to lap number 20 lit up. With a sinking heart she saw that she was three-tenths off of her personal best. She leaped out of her car and flung the helmet that matched her fierce blue eyes away from her. Only three-tenths more and she would have set a new record! The thought angered her. 

"You will do better next time, Haruka." 

Tenoh Haruka turned to face the speaker who sounded calm and certain of themselves. Kaioh Michiru stood not far from where Haruka was standing looking at the racer calmly. She knelt and picked up the discarded helmet that lay at her feet, returning to face Haruka. Michiru was tall, nearly as tall as tomboy Haruka, with serious aqua-blue eyes and wavy hair of a matching hue. The Tokyo sun was setting behind her as she stood there, giving her aqua-blue hair fiery highlights. "It is time to go, Haruka. You will break your goal another time," she continued, walking toward Haruka, helmet in hand. 

"It was three-tenths, Michiru - three-tenths! In competition against the best, that time could be the difference between first and last place," Haruka said bitterly, taking the helmet from Michiru's hands and returning it to the car. She was still angry at herself, but she felt her anger slowly melting away in Michiru's presence. 

"This isn't competition, Haruka," Michiru reminded her calmly. "Its simply you against yourself, and its well known that you are your worst critic." 

"Come on, Michiru, get in," Haruka said gruffly, changing the subject. "Its getting late." 

Obligingly, Michiru climbed into the passenger side of the sports car and waited as Haruka started the car and peeled out of the racetrack. 

Little conversation was exchanged between the two as Haruka sped home to their mansion not far from the racecourse. She pulled up the long driveway and parked before the sprawling mansion, getting out just as the first few stars began to shine above them. Michiru met her at the start of the walkway to the front door and, after a quick kiss, walked hand in hand with her to the door. They let themselves into the darkened mansion, no doubt th eother two occupants, Meioh Setsuna and Tomoe Hotaru were already in their rooms. Such a large house provided for a certain degree of privacy. They ate a quick dinner together in their spacious dining room, then retired to their equally-spacious bedroom. 

Haruka lay on top of the covers of their four-poster bed and listened to the muffled drum of the shower where Michiru was. Calmness had replaced the anger at herself, had faded into memory. Anger was a useful weapon, but only when used properly. 

The shower stopped then, and Haruka barely managed to overhear humming; no doubt Michiru was towel-drying her hair. Sure enough, the bathroom door opened and the aqua-haired woman appeared wearing a long aqua nightgown and vigorously rubbing her hair with a fluffy towel. She eyed Haruka lying in her two-piece pajamas carefully and said matter-of-factly, "You're tired." 

Haruka hid a smile. "Yes. And I leave tomorrow too." 

"For the championship race in Munich," Michiru stated, pausing in her drying. "I nearly forgot." An unreadable look flashed across her face as she vanished back into the bathroom. She reappeared a moment later without the towel and crawled beneath the covers beside Haruka. "Be careful," she said softly. 

Haruka turned to face Michiru, a hand reaching out to trace the scar just beneath Michiru's hairline. Haruka still blamed herself for that scar. "You say that as if you know something I don't," she said, half-jokingly. 

Michiru turned her head away from Haruka's hand. "I always worry for you," she said after a moment. She reached out and turned off the solitary lamp beside their bed, plunging the room into darkness. "Good night, Haruka." 

************* 

Haruka awoke during the night, her deep sleep disturbed by something she couldn't identify. She felt oddly tensed, as if she were awaiting something that was supposed to happen. She reached over to touch Michiru to reassure herself, rising to her elbows and glancing beside her when she found the bed empty. Wide awake now, Haruka only hesitated momentarily before climbing out of bed and pulling on a robe. Still feeling slightly out-of-sorts, she left their bedroom in search of Michiru. 

************ 

Michiru knocked softly on the ebony door before her in the moonlit hallway. "Setsuna, are you awake?" she asked just as quietly. Soft light shone beneath the door, but she thought she had better be sure. "Its Michiru. I....I need to talk." 

"Come in," Setsuna called from behind the door. Michiru gratefully turned the knob and entered. 

The room was done in dark woods with wine-red carpetting, giving the whole of it a dark look. Lamps set into the walls and atop desks were on and cast a soft light that dispelled most of the shadows. Meioh Setsuna sat at a dark mahogany desk set against the far wall, looking thoughtfully at several open books. When Michiru entered, she rose and turned to face her. "I've been expecting you," Setsuna said in her soft voice, her garnet eyes serious. "Come, sit and we shall talk." She pulled two chairs close to the black marble fireplace against one wall and gestured to one as she sat in the other. 

"I...hope I haven't interrupted you, Setsuna," Michiru said as she sat, her eyes straying to the open books on the desk. A few closed ones sat there as well, and Michiru realized as she tried to read the titles engraved in elegant script on the bindings that they were all in some foreign language she didn't recognize. "I know its late..." 

Setsuna gestured dismissively. "Some things shouldn't wait." 

"Setsuna, I'm worried," Michiru said all at once, her eyes staring into the low fire burning before her. "I have that feeling again..." 

"And Haruka's leaving tomorrow," Setsuna finished. "You don't want her to go because you fear she will be tested while she is gone." Setsuna paused. "You want to tell her everything, don't you?" she finished, lowering her voice further. 

"I want to prepare her!" Michiru burst out defensively, her eyes turning to Setsuna. "After what happened to Hotaru....what if she fails, Setsuna?" 

"Calm yourself, Michiru. You do not sound like yourself," Setsuna said calmly. "You cannot go around attempting to manipulate what will be, for things may go terribly wrong. If Destiny sees fit that Haruka - " 

"If Destiny sees fit?! Haven't you told us many times before that the time of Crystal Tokyo is approaching and that we - all of us! - play a large role in that?" Michiru demanded, her voice rising. 

"I have told you no such thing!" Setsuna shot back, her tone cracking like a whip. "I have seen the inner senshi in the future. Not us." 

Michiru paused. "What?" she asked, blinking as if struck. 

"I have seen Neo Queen Serenity and her four guardians in every future I have visited. I have only seen us a few times. Only once have I seen us all together," Setsuna explained, her tone considerably calmer. "The futures where we were present, we looked insubstantial. Like ghosts." 

"Like ghosts...." Michiru repeated, her eyes empty. "We...we don't exist?" 

Setsuna was quiet a moment, her eyes fixed at a point above the fireplace. "The future is never as black and white as that, Michiru," she responded finally. "Perhaps it only means that our Destinies aren't as certain as the others. Every decision we make affects us more than them." 

"Which is why I cannot tell Haruka," Michiru concluded dully. "I must keep this from her." 

"Exactly." 

**************** 

Haruka was on her way to Michiru's studio in the dead of the night, figuring that if she were anywhere, she'd be there. She navigated the hallways and stairs expertly, born from much practice. For whatever reason, Haruka found herself traveling the long way, close to Setsuna's room. 

As she passed Setsuna's hallway, she noticed light shining beneath her study's door. Faint voices reached her ears, drawing her closer. One was Setsuna's, of course, and the other - Michiru. Pausing outside the door with one hand on the knob, she was just about to enter when she heard her name mentioned. 

" - cannot tell Haruka. I must keep this from her." 

"Exactly." 

Haruka stopped to listen. 

**************** 

"Knowing would do Haruka no good," Setsuna went on, her tone quiet. "It would hurt us all more in the end." 

Miciru stayed quiet, her hands fidgeting. "And Hotaru - " 

"Knowing would have affected her Destiny. It is best that she went into it without knowing. The result is more truthful." Even as she said this, she looked troubled. Silence descended over the room, broken only by the sharp crackle of the fireplace. Setsuna finally stirred, touching Michiru's hand. "Do you now know what you must do?" 

Her answer was a long time coming. "Haruka musn't know," she said finally, the words sticking in her throat. 

"It is for the best," Setsuna added. 

Michiru lowered her head. "I know." 

**************** 

Haruka stepped back from the door then, eyes wide. What were they talking about in there and why was Michiru keeping something from her? It sounded important too.... 

Feeling more hurt than she would bring herself to admit, Haruka retreated down the hallway and back to her lonely room. 

**************** 

"That doesn't make it any easier," Michiru added with a sigh. "If Haruka discovered I'm keeping something from her - " She broke off, swallowing her words as she rose. "Thank you for telling me this, though I don't think it helped much," she said instead. 

"I'm sorry I cannot provide you with the answers you want to hear," Setsuna replied, also rising. "But you're welcome, in any case." 

"Goodnight, Setsuna," Michiru said, a hand on the knob. 

"Goodnight." 

In their moonlit room, Michiru slid inot bed with a quiet sigh. Sleep was long in coming. The fact that Haruka lay with her back to Michiru, something she never did, escaped her notice. 

Michiru slept longer than she intended to, so when she woke up and stretched, she grew angry with herself after realizing Haruka was already up. Wasting no time, she hurriedly tied a bathrobe around her slim figure and departed from the room. 

She entered the breakfast room where she found Setsuna reading the paper and Hotaru silently eating a bowl of cereal. Hotaru had become more introspective in the days following her trial, and even now, a full two months afterward, she was still quieter than she was. 

"Good morning, Michiru," Setsuna greeted without looking up. "Did you sleep well?" Hotaru said nothing. 

"Well enough," Michiru replied. "Where's Haruka?" 

At this, Setsuna lowered her paper and looked up. "She is gone, Michiru. She left very early this morning," she said slowly. 

Michiru paused in the act of reaching for a cinnamon roll on the table. "What? She couldn't have," she said firmly. "She wouldn't have left without - " Michiru broke off then, swiftly turning and leaving the room. Setsuna watched her go. 

"What was all that about, Setsuna?" Hotaru asked then, breaking her brooding silence. 

"I do not know," the ageless woman replied neutrally. Setsuna hoped her expression betrayed none of the worry she felt. 

**************** 

Beyond the runways where planes took off and landed continuously, the golden sliver of the morning sun was just beginning to show itself over the trees. One hand on the glass window before her, Haruka watched its slow progress with impassive thoughtfulness. She wondered at what Michiru and Setsuna had been talking about before she had overheard them, wondered too why she hadn't burst in on them and demanded answers. Something had held her back, the same something that had driven her to Setsuna's part of the mansion to begin with. 

Was it those strings tied around her life that brought her there? Haruka didn't know. She had discovered long ago that she could no longer discern the difference between Destiny and Chance in her life. It seemed to her that there was more of one than the other. If Setsuna were to be believed, her life and the lives of the other senshi revolved entirely around Destiny. Everything that happened to them and everything they did served some greater purpose. A rather depressing thought. 

"Tenoh Haruka, please report to the terminal counter. Your flight is ready." The voice cut through Haruka's broodings. Stooping, she picked up the two bags at her feet and turned away from the spectacular sunrise that stained the sky and clouds pink without another glance. Without someone who had an affinity to the arts there with her, a sunrise was just a sunrise. She walked away. 

The ride to Munich was uneventful for the most part, Haruka managing to nap a little to make up for waking early. However, disturbed by dreams in which she found herself attacking and killing Michiru as Sailorneptune innumerable times, she didn't sleep long. As she stepped off of the jetliner reserved for her, the cool air hit her face and she breathed appreciatively. She descended the stairs with her duffel slung over one shoulder, sparing the small crowed gathered at the opposite site of a chainlink fence a glance as they screamed in recognition. Nearly all female, Haruka saw with an inward smirk. If only they knew their 'handsome racecar driver' was a female, there wouldn't be any crowd. Still laughing to herself, she boarded the small cart that had been sent for her and let the attendant bring her to the terminal. 

"Fill the tires a little more," Haruka ordered as she circled around the front of her racecar. A pit crewmember scurried to carry out Haruka's orders under her watchful eye. Satisfied, she continued circling her car and calling out orders as she did so. Finally, she stood at the head of the car and critically raked it over with her eyes one last time. "Very good, Randy," she said finally to the short, squatty man next to her. "Your team is very skillful." 

Wiping his greasy hands on an equally greasy rag, the man responded in his gravelly voice, "I picked them especially for you. I know how picky you are when it comes to your car." Randy was Haruka's pit chief and accompanied the racer to nearly every race to oversee the crews. A man from the States, Randy had been working for Haruka for nearly ten years now. "Still, you should compliment them and not me. They all think you're an unreasonable bitch -- pardon my language." 

Haruka grinned. "All the better. People do a better job when they fear the person they work for." 

The next day, Haruka rose early in the suite provided for her and left for the track after a quick shower and breakfast in hopes of beating the crowds that always gathered at the entrances. She drove herself in a nondescript car provided for her instead of indulging the chauffer service offered to the participants of the race, though as she drove up close to 9 a.m., the small group of reporters and die-hard fans recognized her as she neared. She drove by them all and parked the car in the nearly empty private lot, lost in thought as she was. Whenever she participated in large races such as this one, she spent long hours beforehand readying herself mentally. She had discovered long ago that the key to winning lay in mental preparations rather than her car. Besides, she knew her car intimately and knew it was as prepared as it could be. Still wrapped in her thoughts, Haruka entered the main building hours before the race was to begin. 

"~Why was Michiru hiding something from me?~" Haruka caught herself wondering, shattering her carefully-constructed state of mind. Angrily, she banished the stray thought as she sat waiting in her customized racecar, starting the process over again. She had to be focused solely on the race; thoughts of anything else could very well distract her. 

Haruka eyed the track spread out before her critically, basing how she would race on the conditions. The morning showed the beginnings of a hot, sunny day, passable driving conditions as long as she was careful not to overheat her tires. However, a line of clouds hovering just above the horizon caught her attention, causing her to wish fervently that those lead-grey clouds would stay were they were. She returned to her mental preparations. 

***************** 

"Drivers, start your engines!" The announcer declared, causing the spectators to surge to their feet in anticipation. As one, the cars started, the roar from their engines deafening. Haruka tensed, gripping the wheel tightly as she waited for the signal. After seemingly an eternity of waiting, the man with the starting flag waved it, and Haruka was off. Her mind calm, she whizzed around the first corner just as the first few wispy clouds began to obscure the sun. 

The track was soaked by mid-race. Cursing whatever forces controlled the weather, Haruka was forced to exert more concentration than usual to stay on the track. She swore bitterly as yet another car inched up on her right and passed her. Reaching over, she grabbed the radio she carried with her and said into it, "Have the crew ready. I'm coming in on the next lap." 

"Understood," came the reply, and Haruka tossed the radio away from her. She hated to pit, but in this weather, she needed to optimize her car to work better in the rain. 

> (..I can still catch up. I _must_ catch up..) 

Grinding her teeth in impatience, Haruka watched from behind the wheel as the crew seemed to take an absurd amount of time changing her tires. Randy was helping them, but even then, Haruka watched as the seconds ticked by. Finally, the last bolt was tightened, and Haruka stuck her helmet back onto her head. Randy hurried over just as she was preparing to pull out and said, "Be careful, Haruka. The track looks slick and the rain's only just begun. I wouldn't be suprised if they called this race." 

"I'll watch myself," Haruka said with a quick smile before peeling out of hte pit and back onto the track. She nodded in satisfaction as she saw that her car was handling better, letting herself relax. Some. 

Another fifteen minutes later, Haruka drew close to the end of the race. Two cars were before her, both within sight and could be easily overtaken. Her drive to win overpowered her caution. Heedless of the wet pavement, Haruka accelerated, intent on overtaking the two..... 

> (..two more laps...I'm nearly there..) 

Haruka crept up behind the closer car, added a bit more gas and easily passed it. 

> (..only one more car...you can do it, Haruka..) 

As before, she crept up behind the lead car. Then, on the final curve, she swung outward and inched past the car. 

> (..yes! I'm doing it!..) 

She prepared to cut in front of the lead car. Suddenly, a chill feeling crept over her. Without fully realizing what she was doing, her hand left the wheel and grasped her henshin wand, the words to her henshin phrase on her lips. A jolt cut through the feeling. Her rear end had been clipped by the car she had been passing. Suddenly realizing what was happening, Haruka desperately tried to regain control, but it was too late. Her car was sent spinning out before the oncoming cars.... 

******************* 

"Michiru!" Hotaru's horrified voice brought the aqua-haired woman running from the kitchen. Hotaru was on her feet before the TV they had been watching the race on, staring transfixedly at the screen. Joining the girl at the TV, she watched wordlessly as Haruka's car was sent spinning out of control directly in the path of oncoming cars. One car...another...a third...they consecutively slammed into the car. Still spinning wildly, the car slammed into the wall, the force of the impact flipping it over. Michiru couldn't breathe.... 

"Looks like a bad crash for Haruka Tenoh," the announcer said. "An ambulance is already on the track...." 

******************* 

The world swam around Haruka. Curiously, Haruka was reminded of the motorcycle accident only six months ago. The way she felt the motorcycle go, how she had instinctively leapt off and rolled while Michiru had been sent flying. She had almost lost her beloved that night..... 

> (..why was she keeping something from me?..) 

Tired, she let the thought go. The world slid away... 

********************** 

(.....come.....) 

It was dark around her. Or maybe her eyes were just closed? She didn't much care. 

"Open your eyes, Guardian of Winds," a timeless voice said commandingly. "Open your eyes and awake, so that I may see you." 

Puzzled by these words, Haruka did as she was told. It was still dark, but a cluster of sparkles before her cast a dim glow a short distance away. It illuminated nothing save a smooth grey floor. Haruka found herself standing, throwing her senses off balance for a brief moment until they righted on their own accord. 

"Ahh," that timeless, ageless voice said, Haruka pinning it to the sparkles. "So it is you." 

"I am Tenoh Haruka," she responded carefully. "Who am I speaking with?" 

"You are more than that," the voice chided mildly. "You are Sailoruranus, Guardian of Winds. The unreadable one." 

Haruka blinked. "The unreadable one?" she questioned. "What do you mean by that? And how do you know me?" 

The sparkles seemed to shrug. "Is that really so important?" When Haruka didn't answer, it went on. "I am what you are." 

"What I am?" Haruka asked, growing more exasperated as time went on. "Listen, I don't know who or what you are, unless I hear from you otherwise, you are evil," she growled, her henshin wand appearing in one clenched hand. 

The voice laughed merrily. "Always impatient and impulsive, you are. Have no fear, Haruka, for my intent is not to injure you in any way," it said, laughter in its voice. "But none of this serves the purpose," it added briskly, business-like. The cloud of sparkles drew closer to Haruka who stiffened. "Peace, my impulsive friend," the voice said patiently. "I am merely trying to get a better look at you." Having said this, it circled Haruka, seemingly regarding her carefully with invisible eyes. "You are not as easy to read as the others," it said finally, returning to where it had been. "You know your duty, you fear nothing that you shouldn't, and you are seemingly comfortable with your Destiny." 

Haruka said nothing, letting the being before her reveal more of itself as it talked. She was generally sure that she was living some dream, but she still wanted to be careful. 

"Yet," it continued, speculation in its voice. "There is one quality you possess....one that may be of use to me." 

Haruka waited for the being to continue, however when it didn't, she grudgingly asked, "What do you mean?" 

"A Trial," the voice said simply. "I must test worthiness." The being's voice changed its tone, as if it were reciting something. "The beings that possess power enough to make or break the very fibre of the Universe must be tested. None shall pass between the Old Age and the New Age that do not prove their worth." 

"To protect the Queen?" Haruka asked probingly. 

"Among other duties, yes," the voice replied evasively. "Two of you have already come before me. The Warrior of Oceans and the Soldier of Death," the voice said abruptly. "Do you wish to see their trials?" 

Before Haruka could respond, however, the cloud of sparkles vanished, leaving her in darkness so intense, Haruka felt smothered. After a moment though, soft light glowed around her as a section of the darkness became translucent, displaying an image of dazzling clarity. Though Haruka felt some qualms about watching what was undoubtably going to be shown to her, curiosity won out. She watched. 

It was the park in Tokyo, Haruka saw. Two figures stood facing each other unmoving. One was Hotaru as Sailorsaturn, she saw immediately. The other, after a moment of scrutiny, she recognized to be Mistress 9. Almost as if they had been waiting to be recognized, the two sprang into action as Haruka looked on. Brandishing her glaive, Sailorsaturn charged towards the evil woman, who likewise charged the girl. Closer and closer they drew until finally, at the last minute, Sailorsaturn threw her glaive aside. "No! Hotaru!" Haruka burst out, fearing for the girl, but her cry was lost. The two collided. The view changed, drawing closer to the two. Haruka's startled eyes beheld Hotaru and Mistress 9, bitter enemies, embracing. Hotaru's face was nearly rapturous as she clasped the woman tightly, Mistress 9 slowly fading from sight. Then, her face dreamy and distant, Hotaru retrieved her discarded glaive and raised it into the air. 

"Death Reborn Revolution...." Haruka heard Hotaru whisper, the words echoing ominously around her in the dark. Purple-black light spilled from the glowing glaive, consuming the view - and out into the dimly-lit darkness. Startled, Haruka could only throw her hands over her face before the unmaking light was upon her. Agony washed over her for a brief second and then blissfully disappeared. 

Haruka waited a slow ten-count before she opened her eyes. The air before her showed a new view, the shore of some sea. Instinctively she knew just from the view what this portended. She moaned lowly in her throat. 

Michiru as Sailorneptune stood on the white sand, gripping the haft of an unfamiliar trident and glaring defiantly. Usagi as Sailormoon was also present, holding the aqua-haired senshi back and talking with her urgently, pleadingly, but Michiru made no appearance that she heard. Or cared. 

There was another figure, one Haruka felt her heart sink when she recognized. It was Sailoruranus. Herself. "No! I do not want this Destiny!" Michiru cried, her voice ringing out around Haruka, pounding her ears mercilessly. With a sudden movement, Michiru sent Usagi flying and dashed towards Sailoruranus, her trident before her. Haruka wanted to turn away and not look, but her body wouldn't respond. "I do not want my Destiny!" Sailorneptune repeated just before she plunged the raised trident into Sailoruranus's chest. 

Flinching, as if feeling the blow herself, Haruka grew cold. 

Calmly, Michiru shook the unmoving body off her trident and rested the haft on the sand. Blood dripped from the points and gleamed in the bright sun as it dripped down the shaft and stained the hand that gripped it tightly. "My life is my own again," she whispered, a slight smile on her face. The light that lit up this horrific scene went out. 

"Well?" the voice from before asked from the darkness. "Is this what you expected?" 

Haruka forced herself to calm her turbulent mind, to achieve the calm impassiveness that had helped her through life. When she was in control of her emotions, she asked, "Was that real?" 

"There was truth in everything you saw; how much or how little was determined by you," the voice responded. 

"None of that could be real...." Haruka said. "I trust them both." She forced herself to stop the voice inside her mind from asking, "~And what about Michiru hiding something from you..?~" 

As if reading her thoughts, the voice from the darkness asked shrewdly, "Is that really the case, Guardian of Winds?" 

All at once, bright light drove away the darkness in all directions, leaving a substantial area lit against the darkness that still lurked around the edges. From the darkness stepped two figures. Hotaru and Michiru. As Haruka's eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, she saw that both of them wore smiles that seemed to mock her, smiles that hid malice and dark knowledge. After a moment's more of examination, she saw with detatched horror that Hotaru's face seemed insubstantial, her features twisting to accomodate the leering face of Mistress 9 for brief moments before twisting back. The uncertain flicker of the girl's face horrified and repulsed Haruka, and she looked away. 

"What's the matter, Haruka-papa?" Hotaru asked sarcastically, her voice sounding like two at once. "Can't you look at me? Have I become ugly?" 

Haruka licked her lips and swallowed. "I don't know...I don't know who you are." 

"I'm Hotaru, Haruka-papa. Don't you _trust me_?" the girl demanded, drawing closer to the speechless Haruka. When Haruka didn't respond, the flicker suddenly vanished, and regular Hotaru stood where the perverse one had been looking near tears. "Haruka-papa...I'm so scared...please help me...I need a hug..." 

Haruka made no move to approach the girl, the memory of what she had been only moments before making her wary. She didn't know what to make of this or how to respond. 

Seeing Haruka's indecision, Hotaru began crying. "Please...." she repeated miserably. 

The girl's words drove her to action, and Haruka gathered the girl in her arms. Hotaru clung to her chest before a brief moment, crying as she did. Then, all at once, Haruka felt a chill wind sweep over her and she knew something was wrong. "What's the matter, Haruka-papa? Don't you trust me?" Mistress 9's voice hissed mockingly in her ear. Before Haruka could react, the being in her arms vanished. 

Haruka took a few stumbling steps forward, thrown slightly off balance by the sudden disappearance of the one she had been half-supporting herself with. Michiru stepped forward out of the shadows she had been lingering in then, striding forward with that same secret smile on her face. "Poor Haruka," she said, sounding truely sympathetic. "You do not seem as sure of yourself as you normally do." She put a hand on Haruka's arm. 

Haruka jerked her arm away as if she had been burned. "Don't touch me. I don't know who you are," she rasped, her face lowered. This was all a dream...wasn't it? 

"Why, I'm Michiru, love," the aqua-haired woman said quizzically. "Who else might I be?" Her smile laughed mockingly. When Haruka didn't respond, she went on speculatively, "Of course, it might be that I'm not who I say I am. That my goal is to put you out of the way." 

"What do you mean?" Haruka found herself asking. 

Michiru's face became dark. "I want a new life!" she said vehemently. "I'm tired of fighting, tired of enemies, tired of having my life mapped out for me." 

"But...to get rid of me?" Haruka asked, incomprehending. A voice inside her was shouting at her, but she ignored it. She had to understand. 

"You bind me to my Destiny, Haruka. My _partner_," she sneered. "If you die, the ties binding me are gone. I would be free." 

Haruka closed her eyes. "So you would kill me so easily?" she asked tiredly, half to herself. "Perhaps it is better this way..." Wind whistled past her ears as if she stood on a high cliff and one step would carry her over the edge.... 

....It was pure reflexes that saved Haruka. With a cry, she grabbed her Space Sword from the air and successfully blocked the trident aimed at her chest. They stood with their weapons wedged against each other as Michiru struggled to strike against Haruka, who was barely holding back the sharp points with her sword. "Give up!" Michiru snarled. "You said it yourself! It would be better this way!" 

Haruka said nothing. She was reliving those minutes spent eavesdropping outside Setsuna's door. "~ - cannot tell Haruka. I must keep this from her~" What was she keeping a secret? Visions of Michiru's Trial followed closely on the heels of that thought. How could Michiru have slain her so easily without a second thought? Anger boiled from these thoughts. Michiru was out to ruin her. 

"~Please....trust in me, Haruka~" Michiru's voice said suddenly in her head. 

After a long moment, Haruka replied, "I cannot." With a wild cry of anger, she threw aside the threatening trident and leapt towards the startled woman. Still blinded by hurt and rage, Haruka brought the glowing Space Sword down and across Michiru's shoulders. Everything went silent inside Haruka's mind as she watched Michiru's body crumple slowly to the ground detatchedly. With a sickening sound, Michiru's head fell and rolled away. 

Haruka threw back her head and howled a cry of anger and pain as darkness settled around her. 

******************* 

> (..you have failed. Ruler of Uranus, your title is denied..)   
(..title? Failed? How was there any way to pass? What were the right choices?..)   
(..I cannot answer that. You have failed..)   
(..damn it, I want to know!..)   
(..I cannot..) 

Haruka jerked awake. Something covered her eyes, preventing them from opening. She tried to reach up to uncover her eyes, but her arms felt queerly heavy, and they ached when she tried to move. Her head felt fuzzy, and it was hard to form coherant thought. "Hello?" she said thickly around swollen lips. 

Instantly she heard stirring beside her. "Haruka?" a tired voice asked hopefully. Somebody took her hand. 

Haruka felt her face pull into a snarl as she recognized the voice. "Don't touch me!" she whispered. Anger and fear cleared her mind, leaving only the memories of Michiru's betrayal replaying inexhorably in her mind. 

The hand pulled away. "Haruka? What's wrong?" Michiru asked, sounding hurt and scared. 

"Leave me, Michiru," Haruka said lowly, forcing herself to keep her voice level. "Send someone else in. I'm not prepared...I'm not ready..." She fell silent. 

"Oh Haruka, it was just - " Michiru started. 

"GET OUT!" Haruka roared, her chest protesting against the sudden outburst. 

Silence settled before Haruka heard Michiru draw in a shuddering breath, and soft footfalls as she did what she was told. 

It was much later than Haruka expected before anybody came to confront her. She discovered from doctors and nurses that came in periodically that the shattered windshield of her racecar had driven shards into her eyes, and the bandage around them was needed for several weeks. Both her legs were broken, and she suffered from broken ribs as well as a moderate concussion. She had been unconscious for nearly a week. 

The door opened as Haruka lay in her unending darkness and shut again. Then silence. Haruka had the feeling she were being watched critically. "Who's there?" she asked. 

"You are a fool, Tenoh Haruka," Setsuna's voice said caustically. "Don't you know that what you experienced was a dream?" 

"Not all was a dream," Haruka replied roughly. "I know my killing Michiru was a dream, but the reasons why were not." 

"Do you know what you've done to her?" Setsuna demanded, her tone no less sharp. 

Haruka sighed. "Perhaps I was too rough with her, but how was I _supposed_ to react? I feel betrayed..." 

"What did you see?" Setsuna asked gently. 

The compassion in the ageless woman's voice angered Haruka who shot back, "What were you and Michiru talking about the night before I left?" 

Setsuna was quiet. "How much did you overhear?" she asked finally. 

"Does it matter?" Haruka returned. "I ask again, what were you talking about? What was Michiru keeping from me?" 

Setsuna's reply was long in coming. "You are asking the wrong person. I cannot tell you what Michiru should tell you herself." Setsuna paused. "You failed, didn't you?" she asked at last. 

Haruka scowled into the darkness that surrounded her, but nevertheless replied shortly, "Yes." 

Movement told Haruka that Setsuna was headed for the door when she said, "Perhaps you would have passed if you hadn't eavesdropped where you didn't belong." The door opened quietly, then closed again, leaving Haruka to her own thoughts. 

******************** 

In the waiting room of the hospital, HOtaru sat in one of the hard plastic chairs and pretended to read out of a magazine as she awaited Setsuna's return. Beside her, Michiru was asleep with her head resting against Hotaru's slim shoulders, much to the girl's private relief. Michiru couldn't have gotten more than six hours of sleep total while Haruka was unconscious. Haruka. What was going on that she didn't know about? Michiru had brought word that Haruka was awake, but Hotaru could see hurt deep in her eyes. Michiru had taken Setsuna aside, and the two had talked in low, urgent tones. At one point, Hotaru could see Michiru crying, something she couldn't _ever_ remember seeing. And nobody would give her a straight answer. 

She shifted gently in her chair so as not to wake the woman asleep beside her, hoping Setsuna would return soon with some news as to what was going on. The arm of the shoulder Michiru was asleep on was starting to cramp up, and she had to go to the bathroom. 

Almost as if summoned, the green-haired woman pushed through the swinging double doors into the nearly-deserted waiting room looking drained. She sank into the chair on Hotaru's other side and put her head in her hands. "There's much I understand, but so much I don't....so much..." the woman nearly groaned. 

Unsure as to what to do, Hotaru closed her magazine and put her free arm around Setsuna carefully, so as not to jar Michiru. "What's wrong?" she asked. 

"We're being driven apart....Haruka failed her Trial. I have yet to take mine...will I pass or fail? And to what end? What will happen to us when Crystal Tokyo comes into being?" Setsuna breathed, half to herself. "And what of before then? Already distrust grows among us...what will happen now?" 

Wordlessly, Hotaru sat in mute horror as she saw the normally-unshakable Keeper of Time reduced to frustration and indecision. Never before had she seen Setsuna like this. Finally, though, Hotaru cleared her throat and said, "You have to be strong, Setsuna, whatever happens. We need you to be strong so that we have somebody to...." Here, Hotaru paused, searching for the right words to say what was in her mind. "...to brace ourselves against." 

Setsuna slowly raised her head from her hands and regarded Hotaru with her garnet eyes as if seeing her in a new light. "You speak well for your age, Hotaru," she said slowly. "And you are right. I cannot let myself fail like I just did. How long has Michiru slept?" 

"An hour, maybe. I can't tell because my back is to the clock," Hotaru responded. "This isn't very comfortable. 

Setsuna smiled faintly, then rose and gently lifted Michiru's head off Hotaru's shoulders, allowing her to rise which she did gratefully. Setsuna lowered herself into Hotaru's chair and let Michiru's head rest against her shoulder. "We'll share the discomfort," she said softly after Michiru stirred slightly and sighed in her sleep. 

Massaging the cramped arm, Hotaru turned and said, "Don't worry, Setsuna. Usagi-chan will still become Queen and she will have the otehrs to protect her. That's the important thing." Slightly uncomfortable at having to comfort the ageless woman, Hotaru turned and left before Setsuna could respond. 

Alone in the waiting room with the sleeping Michiru, Setsuna watched the doors swing shut behind the girl fondly. "You are right once again, Hotaru. That is the important thing," she said quietly. 

*********************** 

Three floors above her, lost in her inpenetrable darkness, Haruka came to an important conclusion. In the still room, she whispered, "I can forgive you, Michiru, but I cannot trust you as I have before. Not now. Perhaps not ever." 

********************************** 

[| Crystal Trials - A Time for All |][4]   
[| Stories |][5]   
[| Home |][6]

   [1]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/Urancol.JPG
   [2]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/images/saturncol.JPG
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   [4]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/misc/setsuna.html
   [5]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/stories.html
   [6]: http://www.feisty-angel.com/~kyokou/index.html



	4. A Time For All

Crystal Trials - A Time For All

Finally, its done! What took so long, you ask? Well, because frankly, I was cursed from the beginning. I get halfway done and I accidently drop my notebook in a mudpuddle. Had to recover what I had written. Finally finish, I kept forgetting the ending at school. Start typing it up here, and it seemed like everytime I neared the end, I'd end up getting an error. Hurrah. Also, emulating Setsuna's personality was _extremely_ hard. Things start coming together already in this one, and I decided to throw in a few new ideas I hope to develop more (am I taking too many liberties with the senshi?). Overall, I like how this came out, especially the beginning. As before, keep in mind that, in Japan, last names are first, so Tsukino Usagi would be Usagi Tsukino here in America: 

Main Characters 

[Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto][1]   
[Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus][2]   
[Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn][3]   
[Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune][4]   
Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon 

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

************************************** 

Absently, she brushed her fingertips across the mirror-like surface before her, ignoring the searing cold that ran through her hand. Her mind elsewhere, she barely saw the image before her waver and change. 

> (...the answers...I want to find so many, but where do I look?...) 

Her garnet eyes peered into the dimness around her as if the answers she sought could be found in the red-brown swirls that made their slow progress across the deep, fathomless blackness. The woman sighed and ran a hand through her long, dark green hair in frustration as no answers presented themselves by sheer will alone. With an impatient gesture, a dark green goblet appeared at her elbow. She plucked it out of the air and drank deeply of the water it contained, inwardly grimacing at herself. Not five years ago the thought of eating and drinking here wouldn't have crossed her mind. It just wasn't required outside of the timestream. 

She had lived for countless generations outside of the timestream, guarding the Gates of Time from those who had no business being there. However, she had taken to abandoning the post she and others before had guarded diligently and appearing inside the timestream as Meioh Setsuna. That wasn't her real name; unlike the other senshi, she was never given a new life by Queen Serenity. The life she led now was the same life she had led during the Silver Millennium a thousand years ago. After accepting the Staff and becoming Sailorpluto, she had forgotten who she was prior. It just wasn't who she was any longer. 

In her own eyes, Setsuna thought she was spending too much time away from her post and inside the timestream. Had anybody accused her of that, however, she would deny it as vehemently as she could. She was simply guiding the senshi to a Destiny dominated by good instead of darkness. Lately, though, she had been wondering how much of an influence she really had. It seemed to her that, one by one, the strings she held tied to the senshi she guarded were falling out of her hands. 

In a sudden fit of anger at herself, Setsuna ran both her hands over the glass-like surface of the open door before her, barely feeling the death-like cold as she concentrated on the future. The surface rippled in sudden agitation at the power of the command, turning first a sickly green, then a milky white as Setsuna intensified her command. Finally, the Keeper's will won out and the door cleared. 

Setsuna had seen the room displayed in the door times enough to put a name to it - the throne room of Crystal Tokyo. Sweeping columns ran the length of both sides, columns of a light blue-grey marble. The dais held three thrones of a matching material and hue, and on these three thrones sat the royal family - Neo-Queen Serenity, King Endymion, and their daughter Princess Usagi. Positioned behind the royalty, far enough away so as not to be obtrusive yet close enough to be at hand in a heartbeat, were the four guardians of the royal family, the inner senshi. The entire scene had an insubstantial feel to it, for the future was never definite for very long. 

As Setsuna watched (she could hear nothing), one of Setsuna's heralds entered through the large doubledoors, said something, then withdrew the way he had come. Instantly, anxious looks graced the faces of the royalty, then quickly vanished as the doors opened once again to admit a woman flanked by two attendants. The woman's sailor fuku [**Note:** fuku = uniform] was in tatters, and bloodstains showed up vividly on the light material. Her legs and arms were burned and bloodied, and her head was bowed. However broken she looked, she walked unfalteringly down the room and approached the royalty who made no attempt to hide their shock and horror. Only once did the woman's legs give beneath her as she drew close to the dais, and when the two attendants tried to assist her, the woman threw back her aqua hair and snarled something at them that caused them to shrink away. At the sight of her face, Setsuna was on her feet, tears streaming from her eyes. One of Sailorneptune's eyes was gone, lost beneath a jagged gash that stretched from her hairline down across her eye and to her left ear. Blood stained the entire left side of her face, while her right remained relatively untouched. Sailorneptune's expression was blank and emotionless, as if she had seen too much. 

On her feet, Serenity asked something of the woman, who answered with a short shake of her head. Serenity said something else, staggering slightly when Sailorneptune responded with another short shake. 'Why?' Setsuna saw Serenity ask, to which Sailorneptune lowered herself painfully to her knees and prostrated herself before the shocked queen as if in supplication. Her shoulders quivered as if she were crying. 

Setsuna banished the image. She watched impassively as the glass surface faded until it showed nothing but her own reflection, absently fingering the goblet she held half-raised to her lips. From experience, she knew that what she saw through the Gate wasn't necessarily what would happen, but there was always a chance it would. Always a chance. 

Tired, both mentally and physically, Setsuna turned from the glassy surface framed by carved ivory pillars and walked purposefully through the swirling mists. The farther she grew from the Gate, the windier it grew, until it grew so windy that it sent Setsuna's dark green hair whipping about her. Unfaltering, Setsuna continued forward until just before the gale would blow her down. Abruptly, she was swallowed up by the mists. 

Setsuna blinked, casting aside the disorientation that assailed her senses even after centuries of doing that same task. She was in her room, right where she wanted to be. She glanced at the clock, not very suprised to see that a full two hours had passed. Nearly dinnertime, she noted absently as she exited her room in search of the other members of the household. 

She found Michiru in the kitchen, standing over the stove and cooking. Her aqua hair was pulled away from her face and she wore dingy clothing spattered with paint; her 'studio look' as Setsuna had come to call the outfit Michiru wore as she was painting. Michiru faced Setsuna as the woman entered, and Setsuna swallowed as she saw the ravaged face of the Sailorneptune of the future superimposed over Michiru's normal face. "Hello, Setsuna," Michiru greeted amiably, the bloody image moving its lips to match Michiru's words. 

Setsuna remained impassive, forcing herself with all the hundreds of years of practice behind her to ignore the image. "Hello, Michiru. How has your day been?" she asked, keeping her voice level. 

"Uneventful," the woman replied, turning back to the stove. A pause, then Michiru asked, "Have you seen Haruka?" 

"No. She's been gone all day," Setsuna said gently. "I think she may be racing." 

Setsuna saw Michiru's frame flinch slightly at her words as if she had been struck. And in a way, she had. "I'll not expect her for dinner then," was all Michiru said, her voice totally calm. 

Setsuna turned away to the fridge then, savagely glaring at the carton of milk she drew out as if it were its fault. Haruka and Michiru still shared aroom and talked together amiably enough, but anybody could see that things weren't the same. Haruka's trust had dried up some, and the entire house was suffering for it. Setsuna didn't know who to blame or where to throw her anger or frustration, for it was a series of coincidences that had caused Haruka to fail her Trial and deliver a crippling blow to the woman. Or was it really Destiny stepping in again? Even Setsuna couldn't tell. She poured herself something to drink and put the carton back. 

Turning back, she nearly flinched as she saw the leering, bloodied face over Michiru's gazing at her. "You're pale, Setsuna. Is something wrong?" Michiru asked, concerned. 

"I'm just tired," Setsuna replied glibely, taking a drink to wet her dry throat. Visions like these came and went at random, always attaching themselves to the ones she knew as if they tested her strength of mind. Or mocked her for her powerlessness. "I see you're in your studio clothes. Have you begun painting again?" Setsuna asked, changing the subject. 

All at once the grim visage vanished, leaving Michiru's calm, if tired, face. "Just doing some cleaning. I haven't much felt like painting," she responded with a touch of bitterness in her voice. She turned back to the stove and said, "Go get Hotaru. Its almost time to eat, if you're hungry." 

*********************** 

"Hotaru?" Setsuna called, rapping on the door softly. The door, not fully latched shut, came open at her touch. Hesitating only momentarily, she entered. 

The room was dim and shadowy as Setsuna entered, the early evening sunlight cast through the window in the hall behind her dispelling some of the gloom. Hotaru sat with her legs crossed on the foot of her bed, her arms crossed against her chest and her head cocked to one side. "Hotaru?" Setsuna questioned, an icy finger of fear pressing against her spine as she turned on the nearest light. Hotaru's pupils were dilated, and her crossed arms seemed more like she was hugging herself in the soft lamplight. "Hotar?" Setsuna asked more urgently as she grasped the girl's shoulders and gave her a small shake. 

"Wha...huh?" Hotaru blurted out as she jerked awake. When she saw Setsuna standing over her in concern, color flooded her cheeks as if embarassed. "Oh..." she said softly. 

"What happened, Hotaru? Why were you like that?" Setsuna asked. 

"I..." Hotaru started, her eyes sliding off Setsuna's face. "Nothing...thinking..." 

"Are you sure everything's alright? There's nothing you want to tell me?" Setsuna asked probingly. Though she wanted to know what was wrong, she knew Hotaru had limits. She saw the girl hesitate again, then shake her head. "Well I came in to tell you that dinner's ready. If you're hungry." 

After a moment of studying the carpet, Hotaru replied, "Yes, I am." She picked herself off the bed carefully as if she were far older than what she was and followed Setsuna down the stairs. 

****************** 

Dinner was a solemn affair around the large table, the little conversation taht did take place was mostly one-sided and responded to in monosyllables. Finally, though, Michiru pushed her half-finished plate away and regarded Setsuna closely. "You will be Tested soon," she said at last. "I can feel it." 

"I know," Setsuna said. "It was bound to happen." 

Hotaru looked up sharply from her barely-touched fish. "Be careful, Setsuna," she said in a near-whisper. "Your past will come back to haunt you." 

Her words carried all the weight of a prophecy of doom to Setsuna, and it was a few moments before she found voice enough to ask, "What do you mean?" 

Hotaru gave herself a little shake as if waking from a dream. "I...don't know," she replied, dropping her gaze to her plate. 

"Hotaru, how do you know this?" Michiru asked sharply. 

"A dream..." Hotaru replied evasively. 

"Hotaru, look at me," Setsuna said firmly. It took a moment or two, but Hotaru's violet eyes finally found Setsuna. When Setsuna was sure she had the girl's attention, she went on in a slightly gentler tone, "Tell me how you know this." 

"Setsuna, I -" Hotaru started urgently, biting back her denial when Setsuna's face sharpened noticeably. Finally, she sighed and said miserably, "Sometimes...sometimes I hear voices. In my head." She snuck a look at Setsuna's face to see if they thought her crazy, then dropped her eyes again. "Usually its a woman's voice, and she tell me good things. But sometimes...sometimes its not so nice." 

"Is it Mistress 9?" Michiru asked, looking between Hotaru and Setsuna as if expecting either to answer. 

Hotaru shook her head vehemently. "Not the good voice. Her voice - at least, I _think_ its a woman - gives me hints about the future. They don't always come out the way she says, but mostly she's right," Hotaru explained, flicking her urgent gaze back and forth between Setsuna and Michiru as if begging them to understand. 

"And the other voice?" Setsuna prodded, forcing herself to keep her tone level. It wouldn't do to be angry at Hotaru when it wasn't her fault. 

"That voice...I don't know. Its harder to tell what it wants from me," Hotaru replied hesitantly. "Sometimes it offers me power, if only I become what it wants and do what it wants, and sometimes it pretends to be the Good Voice just so I listen. But I know the difference." 

Setsuna, more troubled by Hotaru's words than she let on, reached out and put her hand over the girl's. "You know not to listen to the Bad Voice, right?" she asked. 

Hotaru nodded. "They've only been in my head since my Tri-" she stopped, swallowed, then started again, "..for a few months. But I know the difference." 

Setsuna regarded Hotaru closely, noting the miserable look on her face, looking decidedly childish as she sat slumped in her chair. Wondering at the sudden childish change, Setsuna said into the silence, "You may go, Hotaru." Gratefully, Hotaru rose and left the room hurriedly, as if she fled. "I'll help you with the dishes, Michiru," Setsuna said quietly after the girl departed, rising and beginning to clear off their half-finished plates. 

Michiru rose and assisted Setsuna mechanically, not speaking until the two were alone in the kitchen rinsing the plates off. "What do you think, Setsuna?" she asked finally, handing a wet plate to her. 

"I think we need to watch Hotaru closer than ever before," Setsuna replied, drying the plate off and setting it aside. 

"And the Voices?" Michiru asked. 

"Mmm.." Setsuna said thoughtfully. "I can't say for sure, but I think something more happened to her during her Trial, something even she doesn't realize. You heard her slip." She stopped talking long enough to finish drying another plate, then continued. "Her powers have been split somehow. On one hand, she has the black essence of Death and Destruction, the root of her senshi being, somehow given a voice and trying to sway her. On the other, her humanity and pure conscience required of all senshi is trying desperately to counteract it." 

Michiru was silent, turning this thought around in her mind as she washed the last of the dishes. "Hotaru never was very clear on what happened to her," she said off-handedly. Setsuna knew from her expression that Michiru was holding the thought that their Trials might have real world effects against her own ordeal. "What could happen?" she asked after a moment, handing Setsuna the last few pieces of silverware. 

"We can hope that her mind will right itself of its own accord. Certainly, that would be the best case," Setsuna replied thoughtfully. "Or, Hotaru could grow to learn to shut out the 'Bad Voice,' however, then she may shut out access to her power with it. And then, she may give in to the 'Bad Voice'..." Setsuna trailed off, deliberately folding the towel she had been drying with in half and draping it over the oven door to dry. 

"...And?" Michiru prompted, turning her full attention on the older woman. 

"With her power? Anything.." Setsuna replied, leveling her intense gaze on Michiru. 

Michiru shivered at the woman's ominous tone, glancing out the window over the sink at the nearly-dark sideyard. The first few stars were beginning to show in the navy sky, and a few lightning bugs made their meandering paths over the lawn. Michiru wished that her life was as peaceful as the scene before her. 

Just then, the sound of the front door opening cut through the oppressive silence that had settled over the pair. "Hello?" they heard Haruka's voice call from the hall. 

"In here, Haruka," Setsuna replied. 

A moment later, the sandy-blonde entered the kitchen. She greeted them with a quick smile that faded just as quickly when she saw their faces. "What is it?" she asked, unable to fully mask her suspicion. 

Slowly, Michiru explained Hotaru's plight, somehow managing to keep the strongest of her emotions from showing. When she had finished, Haruka touched Michiru's arm briefly before moving off to the refrigerator. It was a common gesture for Haruka who rarely showed compassion any other way, yet Setsuna could see that Haruka's heart wasn't fully in it. It was a reflex now, nothing more. "What do we do?" Haruka asked finally. 

"Nothing, save watch her. We don't know how persuasive the Voices are," Setsuna replied. 

The three stood facing each other in the center of the kitchen looking grim as an unspoken agreement passed among them. It was an agreement reminiscent of the one pledged during the time of the Death Busters. If Hotaru, the girl they all had a hand in raising from infancy, proved to be a serious threat to the safety of the planet, they had to kill her. 

Michiru turned away. In a choked voice that spoke volumes about her feelings she said, "I'm going to bed." 

Haruka's face tightened slightly. "Michiru, you know we -" 

Michiru wheeled. "Leave me be," she interrupted in a low, meanacing voice. Her eyes, though, spoke clearly the grief that the knowledge of what she would be forced to do if things went terribly wrong produced in her. Turning abruptly, she left the kitchen. 

Setsuna watched indecision play across Haruka's face. Finally, the blonde turned away ot the fridge, muttering under her breath. "Aren't you going after her?" Setsuna asked, arching a questioning eyebrow. 

Haruka caught Setsuna's look out of the corner of her eye and scowled. "She doesn't need me. She must deal with this on her own," she said. "I'm disappointed that she reacted the way she did. There was a time not long ago when our duty was all we lived for." 

"She has changed, Haruka. Usagi has seen to that," Setsuna said patiently. "Through her, both of you discovered that perhaps there are ways other than killing to achieve goals." 

Haruka turned the full weight of her intense gaze on Setsuna. "Do you honestly believe we could talk whatever drives Hotaru if she turns to darkness out of doing what it wants?" Without waiting for Setsuna to respond, Haruka laughed derisively. "Perhaps Usagi has softened you too, Setsuna. I've never heard you speak the way you just did." 

Setsuna stiffened, matching Haruka's contemptuous stare gaze-for-gaze. "Never call me soft, Haruka. Do not presume you know what my life has been like," Setsuna said in a deadly-calm voice. "I was just defending Michiru from accusations you wrongly make." 

Haruka looked at Setsuna a moment longer as if deciding how long to pursue this argument. Finally, though, she turned away again. "I have not been softened," she said almost to herself, then walked out of the kitchen. 

Setsuna watched Haruka go, forcing her irritation back down. She noted just before Haruka disappeared around the corner that she was limping slightly. A constant reminder of the accident she was involved in that crushed her left leg. Haruka tried to hide this weakness as much as she could, but every now and again Setsuna saw her favoring her right leg. Though she knew better than mentioning it. 

Shaking her head at the wide gulfs that were springing up left and right between them, Setsuna slowly finished cleaning up the kitchen and made her way ot her room. As she lay in her bed much later that night, she stared up at the moonlight on the ceiling and wondered if she really _could_ kill Hotaru if that was what it came to. 

> (...have I become soft?...) 

****************** 

By the time the grey dawn creeped into their house, Setsuna had reached a decision. Pen in hand, she wrote a brief note and pinned it outside her door. Having done this, she took a cursory glance around the room to be sure nothing lay out in the opening that she didn't want seen. Finally, though, she closed her eyes and forced everything out of her head. 

> (...open for me, doorway to the Gates. Open for me, your Keeper, Sailorpluto!...) 

Weightlessness. Then she felt herself propelled forward until she felt the clammy mists cling to her skin. Opening her eyes, she surveyed her surroundings with a slight sardonic smile on her face. 

> (...welcome home, Sailorpluto...) 

****************** 

"I don't understand, Haruka. Why would she leave so abruptly?" Michiru asked as she passed the note again around the table. 

Hotaru picked it up and read its contents over again. It wasn't long, but the content confused her. 

> _I have decided to return to the Gates until the time I am needed returns. Haruka, Michiru, you know what I want you to do. I will know if anything changes."_
>
>> Setsuna 

She put it back down, adding, "And what is it that she wants you to do?" 

Haruka remained silent as she had since finding the note, simply staring down at it before rising and turning away to the kitchen. Michiru barely glanced up. "Whatever the reason, it must have been good," Haruka said firmly from where she stood. Hotaru might have been mistaken, but she thought that Haruka's words carried some unspoken conviction. "We must leave it at that." 

Hotaru looked uneasily between the seated Michiru and Haruka's back as the blonde turned away again. More and more frequently she felt as if she were caught in the middle of something she didn't fully understand. She knew (or thought she did) that it had something to do with Haruka's Trial, though nobody had been very clear when asked. "Haruka? Michiru? What's wrong?" she finally asked. 

Silence. "Nothing, Hotaru," Haruka finally responded, turning her head and casting a slightly strained smile back at the girl. Hotaru didn't push the issue. 

******************* 

Time passed. Setsuna couldn't help that. 

She had been keeping a close watch over the senshi for nearly a year and a half of their time, seeming both minutes and centuries to the woman. Only once had she ventured back into the tiemstream from her self-imposed exile, to a wedding. King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity - simply Mamoru and Usagi until Crystal Tokyo came into being - were finally united. She had made a brief appearance to this event, enough to congratulate the new couple and to remind them of what their joining meant, then returned to her post at the Gate. All without meeting any of those she once lived with. 

After leaving, Setsuna watched her former household closely. It seemed as though she triggered something when she left, for Haruka and Michiru began having intense arguments, usually ending with either one of the other leaving for a day or two and then returning. Caught in the middle, Hotaru began spending more and more of her time in the company of Usagi and the other inners. Setsuna thought it was only a matter of time before Hotaru went to live with Usagi. The outers were falling apart right before her eyes. 

And then, as always when she thought of her once-life, she thought of her Trial. Setsuna had felt the call of whatever it was several times now, resisting it each time. She wanted to know how badly it wanted her. She knew she couldn't hold out forever - each time the call came it grew harder to resist than the last - but she was content to wait. Waiting was what she knew best. 

Setsuna twirled her time staff idly as she watched a series of images play across the Gate. Several she didn't recognize yet (people and places of great future significance appeared at random), but she saw a few of the inner senshi that made her smile. Then, the mirror-like surface suddenly went blank. Frowning, Setsuna drew closer, wondering what would cause it to suddenly stop. As she drew closer, she noticed that it was simply showing blackness rather than simply going blank. Hesitantly, she reached out to touch the surface, placing both her hands palms down over it. 

The mirror remained black, but the contact caused images to flash in her mind at amazing speeds. Crystal Tokyo. Usagi. Hotaru. Neo-Queen Serenity. King Endymion. A dark, frozen world. And more, many more that Setsuna couldn't catch. This had happened to her once before, just before the time when Sailormoon was awakened for the first time on Earth, so she knew what it meant. An important event was close to happening, one that would change the world. Crystal Tokyo. 

Setsuna sagged, her hands still touching the Gate's surface. She had been preparing for this as best she could, but so soon? The inners were barely out of school, the outers needed to be pieced back together somehow, she still needed twice as many answers as before... She wasn't even sure she knew where to start. 

Hands closed over hers, wispy hands pulling from within the Gate she still touched. Gasping, Setsuna tried pulling away, but the hands held her fast. 

> (...come!...) 

Gritting her teeth, Setsuna poured every ounce of her being into fighting. 

> (...I will not!...)   
(...you must. It has to be...) 

The hands began pulling her forward into the Gate. The searing cold felt excruciating on her hands and wrists. And still it dragged her on. 

> (...let me go!...)   
(...I cannot...) 

Her upper arms were in now, and her body was being slowly absorbed. The pain as it hit her chest and face was unbearable. At last, she gave up struggling and allowed herself to be dragged in. 

***************** 

"Why did you fight me?" a voice asked. Forcing herself to unclench her teeth gritted against the cold that seemed deep in her bones, Setsuna opened her eyes. 

At first she thought she was still at the Gates of Time. But as she picked herself up from where she lay sprawled, she realized she was looking through the opposite side of the Gate back at where she came from. Looking around, though, she saw nothing. 

"I ask again, Keeper of Time, why did you fight me?" the voice asked again. 

"As a test," Setsuna replied after a moment, eyes darting around the darkness in search of the source of the voice. Where was it coming from? 

"It is not wise to test the tester. You presume much," it said. 

"I try not to walk into something unknowingly," Setsuna returned in an impassive voice. "If I could, I wished to go on my own terms." 

"That is impossible, as you should know," the voice said, its tone sounding none-too-pleased. "You had no right to defy what must be in the end." 

Though angered by the voice's imperious tone, Setsuna wisely did not push the subject. "Who are you?" she asked instead. 

"I am what you are," it replied after a moment. 

"I asked who, not what," Setsuna shot back, eyes narrowing. "Though that was a very enigmatic response in itself." She briefly considered plunging into the darkness around her in search of the voice's origin, then thought better of it. Not only did she not know what lay concealed in the darkness, it really wasn't necessary. Yet. 

"You are a very stubborn and persistent individual, Sailorpluto. You seem to think you deserve an answer to anything you require," it remarked scornfully. "Is this because you have so few answers to your questions?" 

Setsuna, determined to matchi this being's enigmatic and irritating answers, responded, "Among other reasons, yes. You know much about me, yet I know almost nothing about you." 

"You are here for your Trial; knowledge is not necessary," the voice returned in that infuriatingly-imperious tone. 

"Then give me it," Setsuna said with some exasperation. "I am tired of the wordgames. Perhaps I can learn more during my Trial." The voice was silent, brooding. Setsuna had the distinct feeling that she was being scrutinized very closely, from all angles, both inside and out. It was all she could do not to rub the goosebumps rising on her arms. "Well?" 

"It..it isn't that simple..." the voice said, breaking the silence, sounding unsure of itself for the first time, almost confused. "I cannot find a suitable Trial." 

"Then send me back. I have automatically passed, have I not?" 

"No. I cannot do that." 

"Then why am I here?" 

Silence. Well-acquainted with the dark, Setsuna felt her unseen tester's presence vanish. Frowning, she considered her options. Wait here by what may be her only way out. Venture out into the oppressive darkness. Not very appealing options; still, she had to do something. 

She started with the doorway she had come through. Turning, she closely examined it, probed it with her hands and mind. Her hand passed through the image, causing the whole of it to waver and shift. It almost seemed to turn to mist on the edges, and, fearing it vanishing before her, she withdrew her hand. Her heightened magical senses helped her not at all; according to them, it wasn't even there. So much for an easy way out. 

Waiting wasn't at all appealing, for who knew how long she'd be waiting for the being to return, if at all? For all she knew, she may have angered it enough for it to leave her. That only left venturing out into the darkness. 

Keeping an eye on the glowing rectangle that led back to the Gates, Setsuna ventured out a few steps. As soon as she stepped beyond the small circle of dim light cast by the doorway, darkness swallowed her. The doorway, her only reference, vanished. Setsuna thought she was on fairly good terms with darkness, but this degree of darkness (if darkness could be said to have degrees) seemed hostile and foreign. All sorts of imagined dangers leaped at Setsuna then, dangers that could very well be hidden in the complete darkness and sneaking up on her, using her blindness to their advantage... 

Setsuna prided herself on always keeping a cool head. There was nothing out there save more darkness, she told herself sternly. This was no time to be exercising her imagination, not from what she assumed from hearing the accounts of her friends. What was real in Trials came from the mind, and the more she let her imagination run unchecked, the greater the possibility something just _might_ leap out at her. With this in mind, she told herself that there was nothing around her except vast emptiness, nothing below her except firm ground. She took a few more steps. Confidence growing, she continued more boldly on until she took a step into nothing. And fell. 

The only way she knew she was falling in the complete darkness was the sudden disorientation and then wind rushing past her face. Startled, she almost gave way to panic, forcing her hands to stop their flailing. The only thing she was accomplishing was causing her to tumble end-over-end, which only made her disorientation worse. Laughter reached her ears then, over the rushing wind. Somebody was watching her. Furious, she forgot her present danger and demanded loudly, "I know you can see me! I want to know why I'm still here!" 

The suddeness of impact drove all the air out of Setsuna's lungs. On her back, she could only lay in that position and pray the pain she felt in her back didn't mean she had broken anything. A thought surfaced in the back of her mind as she lay there - had she landed on her head, no amount of superior senshi skill would have kept her neck from snapping. Her mouth working soundlessly in a futile attempt to force air back into her lungs, she angrily waited for the voice to say something. 

It said nothing. The laughter had vanished, but Setsuna could still feel somebody watching her. Slowly, she moved her arms and legs, regaining a sort of low crouch. The pain in her back flared as she moved, then subsided somewhat as she remained crouched. It wasn't broken, much to Setsuna's relief, but neither was it without pain. "You _are_ there," she said through gritted teeth, more to herself than the voice as she slowly rose to her feet. 

As soon as she achieved solid footing, Setsuna found that she couldn't move. Before she could analyze what held her, suddenly Setsuna felt a sharp pain across her side, followed instantly by one across her already-tender back, her legs, and even across her chest. Gasping at the slashes that left no mark that she could tell, she wobbled on shaky legs. "You think you have the right, Sailorpluto?" the voice thundered. "None of your friends have questioned too closely my motives. My motives are my own and you have no authority to question them! What you just felt will be nothing but a breath of wind compared to what will be in store for you if you proceed to question." 

"Though I don't have the authority you seem to," Setsuna grimaced at the concession she was forced to make, "I still guard the Gates. I have some authority. You cannot kill me." 

A powerful blow smashed Setsuna in the face. A small corner of her mind registered the fact that it was nothing but solidified air. Clutching her face, she swallowed down a cry of pain. Never would she give this being the satisfaction of having her cry out. "I will not be bullied," she managed after a moment. "Not when you have no Trial to give me and are holding me against my will." 

Silence. Setsuna stared hard into the surrounding murk as she awaited a response. It felt to her as if the being lay almost within arms reach of Setsuna, that if she reached out she would touch a face. An unsettling thought. 

Sharp blows akin to the ones before suddenly began raining down on her, coming from all directions slowly at first, then gaining in speed and intensity. "You have no right to speak like that," the voice said conversationally as the blows continued. "You need to be taught obediance." 

Setsuna clenched her teeth tight and swallowed a scream as the blows continued, screwing her eyes shut. "I....am not...some..._dog_..." she forced out behind clenched jaws. 

"STOP THIS!" a new voice thundered overhead. 

Setsuna heard the first voice gasp, and the pain vanished just as quickly as it had come. She risked opening her eyes, though nothing but blackness greeted them. 

Breathlessly, almost fearfully, the first voice said, "Forgive me, mother. But this one refuses to cooperate." This last statement was said almost accusingly, as if more for Setsuna's benefit than the new voice. 

"THEN SHE HAS PASSED, HAS SHE NOT?" the new voice asked. Setsuna tried to determine who the speaker was, but, like the first voice, it seemed genderless, timeless, and powerful. "THERE IS NO NEED FOR THIS VIOLENCE. YOUR TEMPER NEEDS IMPROVEMENT." 

"Mother, I cannot find a proper Trial for this one," the first voice said hurriedly. "What shall I do?" 

"IS THIS HER FAULT?" 

"No..." the first voice said hesitantly. "But I thought -" 

"ENOUGH, DAUGHTER. SENSELESS VIOLENCE PLACES US NO BETTER THAN THOSE WE FIGHT," the new voice said paitently. 

"Forgive me, Mother," the first voice mumbled ashamedly. "I'll continue to work on that." 

"SEE THAT YOU DO. GIVE THE KEEPER OF TIME WHAT SHE AND THE OTHERS DESERVE." 

"Wait!" Setsuna demanded. "Who are you?" 

"She is gone," the remaining voice said. "Besides, you couldn't address her in that tone anyway." 

Setsuna clenched her fists to retain her calm. "Then perhaps _you_ can give me some answers. We four have done what you've asked of us, some not as satisfactorily as others, but nevertheless we should get some sort of reward." 

The voice laughed with more merriment than before. "You have earned your right, ruler of Pluto. You may ask what you will of me and I will answer what I can. I cannot answer _all_ your questions, however." 

Setsuna's first question was one that didn't require much thought. "Who are you? Let me see you." 

Almost instantly, the darkness vanished beneath the soft glow of a large glowing orb. Beneath the orb stood a young woman no older than Haruka or Michiru by Setsuna's guess. She wore loose white robes that covered her feet and nearly swallowed her hands as well, and a tight silver choker wrapped around her neck. The only bit of color on her person was her deep red hair, tied up by a silver band into one incredibly long pigtail that brushed the backs of her knees. Her eyes, almost an exact shade of red, gazed at Setsuna intensely. Her pale complexion and white robes made her eyes and hair stand out shockingly against the light colors. Especially her eyes. "This is who I am," she said simply. Indeed her voice was the same as the one that orchestrated her Trial, though it lacked the timelessness and echoing property it had before. 

A memory tickled the back of Setsuna's mind 

> (...chibi?...) 

but it wouldn't come forward. Instead, she asked, "Do you have a name?" 

The redhead regarded her curiously. "You don't remember...?" she started, then shook her head firmly. "I did once, but it no longer fits who I am," she said at last, a slight wry smile on her face. 

Setsuna let that slide. No doubt she wouldn't get a clear answer anyway. "You were to test us?" 

"Yes." 

"Why? To what purpose? Haven't we already proved ourselves through our struggle to get here?" Setsuna demanded. 

The woman hesitated. "To pass into the New Age, you must not only be strong in body but also strong in mind and character," she said at last. "True, you have proven your physical strength in many ways, but the strength of your minds was questioned on a few occasions." 

"And these Trials were held to test our minds?" Setsuna asked. With a short laugh, she said, "You've broken us apart more than ever before. Fighting has broken out amongst us. Distrust, denial, you've planted these in our heads. How can this possibly be used to bring us to the New Age?" 

The woman shrugged. "It is not my place to speculate. I have given tasks, you have completed them. Perhaps this fighting you speak of is part of a much larger test." 

Setsuna was quiet, studying this new thought. If this was true, then things were worse off than she had originally thought. "Was there more to my Trial?" Setsuna asked after a moment. 

The redhead looked infinitely sad for a brief moment, before she bowed her head and clasped her pale white hands under her chin. "There is more, Keeper," she said quietly. Her penetrating red eyes closed. A soft glittering glow lit up her hands, hands that clenched unconsciously around some object. "Much more," she nearly whispered as her eyes reopened. Drawing her hands away from her chin, she held one outstretched hand toward Setsuna, palm up, displaying the object she held. Her eyes never left Setsuna's puzzled face. 

Setsuna hesitantly reached out to the object the woman held, usure of what it was in the bright light it eminated. Her hand closed around cool crystal, and the dazzling light abruptly winked out. The crystal she held was five-sided, and came to a point at one end. She drew it close to her eyes, sure she glimpsed something at the very tip. Its shape reminded her vaguely of something. "I don't understand...." she said, turning it over in her hands. Then, with the abruptness of a strike of lightning, it het her. The shock almost caused her to drop the crystal. "This is...." she started, not able to force the words beyond her dry mouth. Never before had she been so shocked, shocked to the very core. 

"Warrior of Oceans, Soldier of Death, Guardian of Winds, Keeper of Time, your final Trial has begun," the woman with the red hair and eyes said. She turned and began walking the other way. Setsuna was struck again by how familiar she looked before the floor shattered into deep, fathomless darkness. 

***************** 

Setsuna came awake all at once. Glancing around wildly, she quickly took comfort in the familiar swirling mists of the Gate. Wasting no time in reflecting, she took a quick glance at the crystal still nestled tightly in one hand and took off running through the mists. She had to get back. 

Within moments, she was back in her room, back in the timestream. Setsuna knew that her arrival would be felt throughout the household, but she didn't care. Her eyes roamed her study, looking for a proper place to safeguard this precious object as the awaited knock came at the door. "Hello? Who's here?" Michiru's voice demanded as the knob turned. "I could swear I felt something..." she added in an undertone as the door swung open and she entered. 

"Setsuna!" the aqua-haired woman gasped. Setsuna, her back to Michiru, calmly placed the crystal on its perfectly flat bottom above the fireplace. The best place to hide something was in plain sight. 

"Yes, I have returned," she said quietly, not turning around. 

Michiru took a hesitant step forward. "I felt something in here...what is that?" she asked, looking uneasily at the small crystal, no taller than five inches. Setsuna heard the unasked question of what had caused her to return in the first place in Michiru's voice. 

"The crystal?" Setsuna questioned in an odd voice, finally turning to face the woman. Her back complained slightly, reminding Setsuna that injuries there had real-world effects. She stared Michiru straight in her blue-green eyes and said flatly, "This is the future." 

The crystal sat quietly on the mantle. It caught the light shining through a part in the heavy curtains, and glowed once, as if in response. 

***************** 

Curled up on the couch whle she watched TV, Tsukino Usagi shivered as she felt a chill creep over her. She felt a fluttering in her mind, not unlike the feeling she got invoking the ginzuishou. A sort of resonance, as if it were reacting to something. Almost as soon as the feeling started, however, it faded. Faintly uneasy, Usagi settled back on the couch and attempted to put the event out of her mind. 

********************************** 

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	5. End of the Beginning

Crystal Trials - The End of the Beginning

This one was tough to write. Unlike the previous 'chapters', this one was not written from the point of view of one character (more or less), but from the point of view of the outers as a whole. Because of this, the inner senshi play a minor role (I've decided to keep their emergence in this entire series to a minimum, just because I'm more comfortable writing as the outers), and only appear a few times. Overall, this one has its ups and downs as far as how much I'm satisfied with it. There are parts I truly love, and there are parts I wish I could convey better. This one tackles a major aspect of the anime that was never covered, and resolves a few of the mysteries I introduced at the end of A Time For All. As before, keep in mind that, in Japan, last names are first, so Tsukino Usagi would be Usagi Tsukino here in America: 

Main Characters 

[Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto][1]   
[Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus][2]   
[Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn][3]   
[Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune][4]   
Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon   
Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury   
Hino Rei - Sailormars   
Kino Makoto - Sailorjupiter   
Aino Minako - Sailorvenus 

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

************************************** 

The phone rang in the quiet kitchen. Michiru paused in what she was doing and glanced quickly at a motionless Haruka. The blonde sat at the counter with her elbows propped on the surface and a glass held in both hands looking grim and thoughtful and worried all at the same time. She made no motion to answer it, so Michiru did. 

"Hello?" she said, leaning on the counter. 

"Michiru?" a young voice on the other end asked. "Its Hotaru." 

"Hotaru?" Michiru said, unable to completely hide her suprise. At the counter, Haruka started in suprise. Since Hotaru had moved away to Usagi's house, she hadn't called. "How have you been?" 

"Fine," Hotaru replied after a moment. "Usagi and Mamoru have been good to me." 

Hotaru's tone was not accusatory, but Michiru knew that statement for what it was. She looked again at Haruka who had resumed her contemplative attitude and sighed quietly. 

An uncomfortable silence grew on the line. "Michiru, may I come over?" Hotaru finally asked all at once, her words tumbling over each other to get out. 

"Come over? Why?" Michiru asked before she could stop herself. "Not that you aren't always welcome, but this is...sudden," she added hastily. 

"No reason," Hotaru said carefully. "Just to...to talk." 

Michiru knew there wassomething more to this than Hotaru would say, but she said, "Alright Hotaru, you can--" She broke off as she turned to see Setsuna standing in the doorway. Hotaru didn't know Setsuna had returned--or about the artifact they harbored. 

"She may come," Setsuna said quietly. 

"Sorry, Hotaru; I got distracted," Michiru quickly said into the silence. "Yes, you can come over." 

"Good. I'll be over after lunch sometime," Hotaru said, sounding relieved. Then, with an abrupt click, she was gone. 

Michiru replaced the reciever. "Was that wise?" Haruka asked Setsuna who still lingered in the doorway. 

"We are all guardians of the outer solar system," Setsuna returned cooly. "Hotaru is one of us." 

Haruka set her cup down abruptly. "She is also harboring evil inside of her, remnants of Mistress 9, of the Messiah of Silence. What would happen if we brought her close to...to that?" Haruka indicated the artifact upstairs with a wave of her hand. 

"I have no proof that it will be harmful," Setsuna responded stiffly. She paused, then sighed. "And, truth be known, none that it won't. I feel confident, however, that her rebirth will have shielded both her and it from the evil inside. Hotaru, as Sailorsaturn, has a right to know." 

"I hope you're right," Haruka said. Setsuna gave her a long look, then left. "Winds of change are blowing again, Michiru," Haruka said after Setsuna had gone. "A storm is brewing." 

Michiru stirred from where she had watched the entire conversation. "A strong storm?" she asked. 

"The strongest yet," Haruka replied, closing her eyes and tilting her head back. "Do you not feel it?" 

"I do," Michiru replied without hesitation. "The seas are in turmoil. The crash of waves is so erratic, I cannot understand their words." She paused, considering her words. "It is much the same feeling as I got in the days before the Silver Millennium fell." 

" 'None shall pass between the Old Age and the New Age that do not prove their worth...' " Haruka said to herself, her eyes still closed. "We must be careful. Somehow, I feel that Hotaru will once again play an important role in what is to come." 

"Yes," Michiru agreed. "But does Setsuna know?" 

"She does not need to know," Haruka replied sternly. "She's concerned with that crystal up there and that crystal alone. We will have to do the watching." 

Michiru felt sad. "So we must once again protect the world on our own..." 

"Do you not feel strong enough?" Haruka asked, her eyes open and penetrating. 

"No. I am strong enough," Michiru returned confidently. "We are strong enough." 

"Are we?" Haruka asked mysteriously, her Trial replaying in her mind. 

************************* 

Hotaru hung up the phone, feeling elated and uneasy at the same time. She hadn't been to see her former guardians since she moved out three months ago, but she was still uneasy. There was something going on, she knew, something that could change the world if only she could put the right pieces together. It was the feeling she had that told her this. Unfortunately, she held little of the pieces, and didn't know how they fit together anyway. 

"Hotaru?" Chiba Usagi (formerly Tsukino Usagi) poked her head into the hall. Seeing Hotaru's slight smile, the blonde's face brightened. "She said yes?" 

Hotaru nodded. "I told her I'd be over today." Why had Michiru stopped in mid-sentence? 

"That's great!" Usagi said brightly. "Do you think she'd mind if we all tagged along?" The question was innocent enough and her bright expression never changed, but Usagi's eyes sparkled shrewdly. 

"I don't think they would...." Hotaru ventured, trying not to stare at the un-Usagi-like expression on her face. "Are you going to call first?" 

Usagi shook her head vehemently. "We'll just suprise them. I think they'd like that." 

"I'm going to my room to get ready then," Hotaru said. "I'll be back out in a few minutes." She walked past Usagi. What was going on? 

Usagi waited until she heard Hotaru's door shut before pouncing on the phone. Feeling satisfied with herself, she hurriedly dialed Mizuno Ami's number. Just as she was going to hang up, the line picked up. 

"Ami? Great!" Usagi said brightly. Looking over her shoulder as if expecting Hotaru to be standing there, she added lowly, "I got us all invited to Haruka and Michiru's house. Are you still getting those strange readings?" She listened a moment. "We can check them out, then. Get everybody who can come. I'll see you in a bit." Usagi hung up the phone, suddenly feeling guilty at using Hotaru as an excuse to get in. However, weighted against the powerful and potentially dangerous readings Ami had picked up around their area, they had to check it out. 

(...you could have called and asked about them...) 

Usagi dismissed this thought reluctantly. Her friends had all advised her against asking them outright about what was going on. She had argued with all she was worth, but her pleadings that they were all senshi went relatively unnoticed. So she reluctantly agreed, although she could have used her rank as Sailormoon, leader of the senshi, and as the queen of the future Crystal Tokyo to do what she wanted. A working team was based on cooperation, and to pull rank would force her friends to do something they didn't want. 

Hotaru came in then, wearing overalls and a purple-black shirt. "Can we go?" she asked. 

"Mamo-chan should be home soon. We'll go in his car after he arrives," Usagi said with a fair approximation of a smile, even while she felt like crying and confessing what they were planning. 

Hotaru nodded, suddenly looking pale. "I'll be in my room," she said faintly, then nearly ran from the room with a hand to her head. 

Hotaru shut the door to her room and threw herself on her bed. "Go away..." she said into her pillow. 

(...your friends are using you...) 

It was the bad Voice again. The Voices had left her alone up until now. What had changed that? 

(...they aren't truly your friends...) 

"They are too," Hotaru muttered irritably. 

(...we need the crystal...) 

Hotaru froze. The bad Voice sounded almost desperate in its plea. Surely it couldn't mean the ginzuishou, right? But if it didn't, what crystal? 

"Hotaru? It's time to go," Usagi's voice floated from beyond the closed door. 

She scrambled up from the bed, shoving the bad Voice away from her as it gibbered about the crystal. Glancing at the clock, she was startled to see that almost half an hour had passed since she had first entered her room. She must have fallen asleep. "I'm coming!" Hotaru called as she left her room. She needed to talk to Michiru more than ever. 

Through a miracle of skill, all six of them managed to cram into Chiba Mamoru's sporty red car. This involved throwing dignity aside and sitting on each other's laps, but it was accomplished. Usagi shared the front seats with her husband, Mamoru, the future King of Crystal Tokyo. Hotaru was perched shyly on her lap. In the back seat, Kino Makoto sat on one side while Aino Minako sat on Hino Rei's lap. Between them was Mizuno Ami, who was busily punching keys on a small hand-held computer. 

"The closer we get the stronger the readings are..." Ami said with something akin to wonder on her face. "A few more miles and my computer won't even register the readings!" Ami was the brains of the group, a practicing doctor now that she was home from studying abroad. With clear blue eyes, a matching shade of hair, and a sweet personality, nobody would suspect that she was also the soldier of water, Sailormercury. 

"Is it good energy or bad?" Makoto asked. Makoto was in her last year at a famous culinary school, and wanted her own restaurant. She treated the girls like family, because her own mother and father died when she was young. Makoto, with her tall build and fierce temper, sometimes comes off as being unapproachable despite her pretty green eyes and brown hair always tied back into a ponytail. Her strength is an asset, however, making the soldier of lightning, Sailorjupiter, a formidable opponent. 

Ami shook her head at Makoto's question. "There's no way to distinguish, Mako-chan. Power can be used for either purpose." 

"Minako, your hair's getting in my face!" Hino Rei said irritably, brushing her hands across her face. A Shinto priestess in training, Rei helps her grandfather maintain Hikawa Shrine. She graduated from an all-girls school four years ago, and has dedicated her life to the temple she was raised at despite her dreams of becoming a musician. With raven black hair and blue-violet eyes, one hardly ever sees her firey temper coming until its too late. Aside from all of this, she has also managed to identity as the soldier of flame, Sailormars. 

The blonde on Rei's lap giggled as she swiped her hair away. "Sorry, Rei." Aino Minkao was following her dream to become an idol star, and had earned walk-on roles in many movies. Also a fierce volleyball player, she had tried her hand at many tournaments after finishing school. However, her long blonde hair held back with a red ribbon (the origin of which she wouldn't talk about) and her sparkling blue eyes and personality destined her for stardom. Behind her carefree and sometimes ditzy attitude hid a natural-born leader and the determined soldier of love and beauty, Sailorvenus. "I'll be more careful." 

Rei grunted in response. 

"What power?" Hotaru asked quietly from up front. 

Makoto exchanged looks with Rei and Minako, wondering how to smooth things over. She couldn't believe they had forgotten that Hotaru was in the car with them. From the front seat, Usagi glanced back at them through the rearview mirror reproachfully. Mamoru cleared his throat. As the silence stretched out, Ami quickly salvaged the situation. 

"I've been monitoring the area ever since Chaos left us, and I've come up with strange readings. But the more I look at them, the more I realize that it really isn't anything unusual after all. Nothing to be worried about," she said glibely, shutting her mini-computer engraved with the sign of Mercury with a snap to show her unconcern. 

"Oh," Hotaru said, feeling sheepish. Honestly, she would have to be more careful who she accused. 

Usagi, looking into the rearview mirror, was the only one who noticed Ami's hands clutched around her computer, evidence at how badly she wanted to reopen it and return to analyzing the readings. 

Mamoru parked the car out front and everybody piled out. 

"Honestly, you have the boniest legs, Rei," Minako complained, rubbing her rear as she joined the others. 

"You could afford to lose a few pounds, Minako," Rei muttered in response. "Maybe then you'd get cast for a larger part." Makoto laughed, and Hotaru smiled faintly. 

"Go ring the doorbell, Hotaru," Ami interjected hastily after catching a glimpse of the blonde idol's enraged face, managing to smile at Hotaru and look chidingly at the others at the same time. 'Remember what we're here for,' her look seemed to say. Her friends drooped slightly. 

"C'mon Hotaru!" Usagi said cheerfully, leading Hotaru up the walk and chattering about how long it had been since she had seen either of the two inside. 

Hotaru rang the doorbell and waited, the others standing behind her. 

Within moments, the doorknob turned and opened. Michiru was standing there, her smile freezing some as she saw the large group. "Welcome, Hotaru. I didn't know you were bringing guests," she said not exactly disapprovingly, but not necessarily welcoming either. 

"Hi Michiru!" Usagi greeted brightly, quickly picing up the conversation. "We decided to stop by because Hotaru needed a ride. I hope you don't mind." 

"Not at all," Michiru said warmly, smoothly regaining her composure. Stepping aside, she said, "Please, come in." 

Obediantly the large group tramped through the doorway and into the spacious hall. After discarding their shoes, they passed through a series of rooms and halls until they reached the large living room. "I love this room, Michiru," Makoto said, looking appreciatively at the plants scattered around. 

"Thank you," the aqua-haired woman said, sounding distracted. "I'll go make some tea. I'll be back in a moment." 

"I'll help," Hotaru said suddenly, rising and joining Michiru at the door. 'I need to talk to you,' she added silently. Almost as if she understood Hotaru's plea, Michiru nodded and left the inner senshi alone, Hotaru in tow. 

Ami touched one of her earrings, a visor appearing over her eyes. With her computer out as well, she began comparing the readings she was getting from both. "Amazing..." she murmered, looking slowly around the room. 

"What is it?" Minako asked. 

"The readings exceed even my visor's capabilities. Whatever's producing them is extremely powerful, possibly more powerful than the ginzuishou," she said quietly. Moving around the room, she added, "As best as I can tell, the source is upstairs." 

Rei's head jerked up. "Its in this house?" She said, sounding startled. 

"They know about it," Makoto said at the same time. The two exchanged grim looks. 

On the couch, Usagi looked like she wasn't paying attention as she rubbed her temples. "Usako?" Mamoru questioned. "Are you alright?" 

"I have a headache suddenly...." She admitted. "It's just because I'm tired. I'll be fine." Despite her words, Mamoru still looked concerned. 

In the kitchen, Hotaru watched as Michiru poured tea into small china cups. She felt restless and energetic, as if she had taken in too much coffee that morning. Every now and then, she heard either one or the other of the Voices in her mind mutter, "...the crystal..." and then lapse into silence. All in all, it was quite unsettling. 

"What did you want to speak with me about?" Michiru asked finally, wiping up a few drips. "I can tell you look concerned. 

Hotaru considered her words, suddenly realizing she didn't know what to say. "I...think we should get back together," she said finally. "We can't be a team if we don't trust each other." Partially the truth of what was bothering her, but she couldn't put the strange feelings she was having into words. 

Michiru looked sad for a brief moment, but she quickly regained her smooth countenance. "I know, Hotaru. But just saying it doesn't make it so." 

"I'm willing to move back in," Hotaru said slowly. "That is, if you'll have me." 

"We haven't touched your room, Hotaru," Michiru said with a smile, but Hotaru saw her eyes slide up to the ceiling, almost as if she were looking hard at something. "Would you help me with the cups?" Together, the two left the kitchen. 

"We should really get upstairs to check this out," Rei said. "We don't know what they're hiding up there. 

Makoto nodded her head in agreement. "If they aren't willing to tell us straight out, then we have the right to investigate." 

"Or to come out and ask," Usagi murmered, half to herself. This headache was starting to make her irritable. 

"I have to agree with Usagi," Mamoru said at last. "It can't hurt to ask them first." 

From where she stood by a vase of roses, Ami said, "We really don't-" The door opened then, and one of Ami's hands flew to her earring. Just as Hotaru and Michiru entered, her visor vanished in a brief flash of light. From the couch, Rei cast Minako an irritated look. Minako, who was supposed to be keeping watch, shrugged slightly in apology. 

Michiru's face tightened briefly, and Hotaru looked puzzled. They had seen after all, Ami realized. "These roses are lovely, Michiru," Ami said innocently, fingering a petal. "I can't get them to grow half so well." 

"It takes the proper care," Michiru said, ushering Hotaru to the low table in front of the pair of couches. "Please, help yourself." 

Everybody did so. Mundane conversation was passed around the table until they all fell silent, looking at each other calculatingly. 

Usagi decided then to take matters into her own hands. Setting her cup down carefully (no doubt it was worth more than she was willing to know), she assumed an air of what she hoped was authority. There was a time to be a friend and a time to be a leader. Right now, it was time for the latter. Ignoring Rei's frantic looks, she turned her full attention on Michiru and said, "We-all of us-want to know what's upstairs." 

A teacup rattled as Minako set it down rather ungracefully. Somewhere, a clock ticked the seconds by. Several emotions flickered across Michiru's face, including guilt, anger, and...fear? 

"It isn't the time..." Michiru said quietly, meeting Usagi's blue eyes and refusing to be daunted. Usagi was every bit the queen as she met the elder's eyes stare for stare, and Michiru half-expected her future crown to appear on her head. "We all agreed that it wasn't time." 

"Why should you decide what to tell us and when to tell us?" Rei burst out. 

Minako joined in. "We have a right to know what you do! We're senshi too!" 

"Rei...Minako..." Usagi merely said their names, yet the two of them lapsed into sullen silence. "Please Michiru. Ami says that its extremely powerful, and we should know what it is." 

"Michiru, what are they talking about?" Hotaru asked. When nobody responded, she added almost to herself, "You're hiding it from even me?" 

This seemed to shake Michiru. She rose slowly, opening her mouth several times as if searching for what to say. "Follow me," she said finally. 

"Thank you, Michiru," Usagi said as she rose. The others exchanged looks of surprise, then rose as well. 

Resisting the sudden urge to curtsey, Michiru led them out. 

At the top of the stairs leading to the second floor, Usagi stumbled and nearly fell. "What's wrong? Are you alright?" Mamoru asked, supporting her. 

"I feel dizzy..." Usagi managed, leaning on him for support. 

Michiru looked at the blonde calculatingly, then cast her eyes down the hallway. "Perhaps we should save it for another time, if Usagi isn't well," she suggested. 

"I'll be fine," Usagi returned, pulling away from Mamoru. "Show us." 

Resisting a sigh, Michiru led them through the second floor until they stopped outside a deep brown wooden door. "It's in here," she said unnecessarily. Turning the knob, she pushed the door open and walked in, followed by the rest. 

Several things happened at once. Haruka and Setsuna, who had been standing in the room, wheeled on the sudden intruders. "What...?" Haruka said angrily. Setsuna just stared. Between the two, situated on top of the fireplace mantle sat a crystal that was pulsing erratically. 

"What is that?" Makoto demanded. 

"Setsuna?!" Minako said at the same time, pushing forward from the rear of the group to get a better view. 

"Mamo-chan..." Usagi murmered, sagging the floor as she passed out, her face ghost-white. 

"Usako!" Mamoru exclaimed, shaking her. The other inners gathered around her, casting worried glances between the crystal and Usagi. 

Then Hotaru, who had been silent up until then, started forward. Her eyes were blank, and her Saturn sign glimmered faintly purple on her forehead. She reached up for the crystal. 

"Stop her!" Setsuna shouted, snatching the crystal up. 

"Get everybody out of here!" Haruka ordered angrily, grabbing Hotaru by the waist and preceding to haul her out. Mamoru gathered Usagi up into his arms and followed her out, the other senshi in tow. 

"Downstairs," he said as Haruka stopped in the hallway. His tone allowed for no arguing. 

Usagi was laid out on one couch, and Hotaru, who had also passed out, occupied the other. Ami examined them both and pronounced them to be fine. All eyes turned to Haruka and Michiru. "What were you doing bringing them in there?" Haruka demanded of Michiru, ignoring the others. 

"They knew, Haruka," Michiru responded. "We were fools to think that we could keep it hidden." She sounded bitter. 

"But to bring them in there without so much as warning us? Look what happened!" 

"I'm fine, Haruka," Usagi murmered from the couch, opening her eyes and shrugging off Mamoru's attempts to help her up. "We're all fine, and I'm glad you showed us, Michiru." 

The door opened again, admitting Setsuna. "It's safe," she said in response to Haruka's questioning look. Haruka looked relieved. Turning to Usagi who had achieved a sitting position, Setsuna asked, "What happened?" 

Usagi hesitated. "The light reached out to me. I touched the crystal...I heard its thoughts..." she murmered. "Is it true? Is it really...?" 

Setsuna sighed. "Yes. I was almost hoping it wasn't true, but you just confirmed it." 

Usagi shuddered and fell silent. 

"What is she talking about?" Rei demanded. "What was it?" 

Instead of answering, Setsuna moved over to the still-unconscious Hotaru. "I was wrong. It will affect Hotaru after all," she mused quietly. "I can see it affecting Usagi, but Hotaru? Why?" 

Almost as if she heard, Hotaru's eyes fluttered open. "Wh...what?" she asked, her violet eyes clear but confused. "We walked into the room, and that crystal...caught me...or something." 

"Can they handle the truth?" Haruka asked of Setsuna. Michiru glowered at her. 

Setsuna ignored her. Turning to the others, she perched on the edge of one of the facing chairs. "We were given that crystal as a...reward of sorts. We must keep it safe for when it will be needed," she explained. Ami gasped. 

"No..." she said faintly, sinking down onto a chair. "It's physically impossible and-" She broke off, running out of words. 

Setsuna nodded. "That crystal is where the future begins. That crystal is the future palace of Crystal Tokyo." 

Stunned silence. 

"No way!" Minako breathed. 

"Can it be?" Rei asked. 

"This was why you came back, isn't it?" Hotaru asked, finally realizing that Setsuna had returned from the Gates. When the woman nodded, she continued. "Were you finally Te-" 

"That will be enough, Hotaru," Haruka broke in, giving her a hard look. Hotaru's mouth snapped shut, and she looked chagrined. 

"I think maybe we've given you enough to think about," Michiru said smoothly. "I'm sorry things had to happen the way they did, but we were operating with your best interests in mind." 

Glancing at Usagi who still looked shocked and shaken, Mamoru responded, "We will be back." He rose, and the others did too, though their motions were automatic. 

"Hotaru, you may stay," Setsuna said. The girl looked at Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru, correctly interpreting the rest of what Setsuna was saying. 'We need to keep an eye on you...' She nodded with some reluctance, no longer sure she wanted to return ot the household after all. 

One by one they filed out of the lving room, until only Mamoru remained. "Is there something else?" Haruka asked cooly. 

Mamoru's eyes roamed the room, taking in each of the four outers. "I'm displeased with you all. I know you were charged to protect us, but this is too much." When nobody said anything, he started to leave, then paused. He looked back at Setsuna. "I think you should know this, even after your actions lately. Usagi is pregnant," he said, never taking his eyes from Setsuna. With that, he left. 

"Chibiusa..." Hotaru whispered. Even Haruka looked shaken. 

"Then that's why you sent Chibiusa back to the 30th Century? Because she's about to be born here?" Michiru asked of Setsuna. 

Setsuna nodded. "I wasn't sure what would happen if the two were to meet." 

"But Chibiusa's from the 30th Century, too far ahead to be born now!" Haruka protested. "Granted we live longer as senshi...but a thousand years?" 

Setsuna rose. "Come with me. I have to tell you something." 

Haruka and Michiru gathered in Setsuna's study. Hotaru was sent to her room to get some rest. Setsuna was quiet as she stood staring meditatively at the crystal. "I've seen disturbing images of the future, lately," she said at last. "Would you like to hear the truth of what is to come?" 

The other two nodded. 

"The palace of Crystal Tokyo is, above all, a palace, but that wasn't its original purpose. The palace was originally used as a refuge, a shelter," Setsuna said. 

"A shelter from what?" Michiru asked. 

"The end of the world." 

Michiru swallowed. After a moment's hesitation, Haruka took her hand. 

"We, as senshi, will be charged with protecting as many of the citizens as we can. I do not know how this is accomplished, but I have seen the aftermath. They will be put to sleep and protected by the ginzuishou's power. We will be put to sleep as well, after this is accomplished," Setsuna said calmly, as if she were commenting on the weather instead of forcasting the doom of the world. "I also know that, even taking into consideration Usagi's growing mastery of the ginzuishou, there is no way to protect every single person on this planet. We will be lucky to protect all of Tokyo, if it came right down to it." 

More silence. Michiru's heart reached out to Usagi, who would no doubt take the loss of a planet hard. 

"And Chibiusa?" Haruka prompted. "You still haven't answered my question." 

"She will be born in the 30th Century," Setsuna said. 

"But with Usagi pregnant now, how can that be?" Haruka demanded, then sudden understanding burst onto her face. "Unless..." 

"Unless Usagi is put to sleep while pregnant. Which means the world will have to end in the next nine months," Michiru finished softly. 

"How?" Haruka asked, her voice grating harshly. "How will it happen?" 

"I don't know," Setsuna said with a sigh. "I wish I did, but I don't." 

"We will fight it," Michiru said quietly with more confidence than she felt. "Whatever it takes." How did one go about fighting the end of the world? 

Setsuna shook her head. "It's not that easy, Michiru. We cannot fight the end of the world, because it has to come, sooner or later. It's not a force we can easily fight." 

"So we wait?" Haruka asked. 

"And hope," Setsuna said with a nod. 

************************* 

In the dark of the night, Hotaru tossed and turned in her bed. The touch of the crystal fresh in her mind, she alternated between dreams of putting as much distance between it and her as she possibly could, and dreams of holding it triumphantly in her hands as she wrought untold destruction. She wanted nothing more than to wake from these dreams, but she could not. As they repeated in her mind, she was gradually aware of words being spoken in the background. 

"Are you fit to protect your princess?" 

She ignored these words at first, but they repeated at steady intervals during the dream sequences, always louder than the previous time. At length, she shouted, "Yes!" 

The dream vanished. "What have you done to prove yourself?" The voice was, she recognized, that of the Bad Voice. 

"I am a sailor senshi. That is enough," Hotaru replied at once. "I don't think we could be sailor senshi if we meant harm to the princess." 

"What of Galaxia? Chaos swayed her so that, in the end, she betrayed all she had once protected." 

Hotaru paused and gave this thought. She realized that the Voice had a point, so she let that go. "Why are you here?" she asked instead. 

"To convince you of your wrongness." 

"My wrongness? I don't understand." 

"Precisely my point. If you understood, you wouldn't need convincing." 

"But..." Hotaru trailed off. 

The Voice laughed. "Why do you think you were given the power to destroy worlds if you could never use it? Don't you sometimes feel like you're useless? That you really don't do anything to protect your Princess?" 

Hotaru found herself reliving battle after battle, against her will. Always she was accompanied by Sailoruranus, Neptune, and Pluto, and it was always them that fought. She herself had only envoked the power of Destruction once, and even then she was stopped by Sailorchibimoon. What had she done to protect the Princess? Nevertheless, she responded, "No. Never." 

"You lie!" the Voice hissed. "I read your thoughts. I know what you were thinking." 

Hotaru felt a pang of fear at how easily read she was. "Who are you?" she demanded instead. "You have been with me since my Trial, you and that other Voice." 

"A messanger from the future. Would you like to see the glory that is in store for you?" the Voice asked slyly. "You won't be disappointed, I think." 

"N-no!" Hotaru shouted. "I don't want glory! I just want to protect my Princess!" She realized what she was saying after she had said it and could have kicked herself. 

"Of course, Sailorsaturn. Of course. Helping you is one of my goals." An indulgent tone, one that infuriated Hotaru. 

"I don't want your help!" Hotaru exclaimed. 

"But you just said.." the Voice started, then trailed off. "It is no matter. Whether you want it or not, you will recieve it. There really isn't much you can do." The Voice ended this statement with something like a chuckle. "Your Princess would want you to be able to protect her, so accept my offer and all will be well." 

Hotaru didn't know what to say. Would she really be able to do her part to protect Usagi at last? No; best not to think of that. But even as she banished these thoughts, the Voice laughed mockingly. "Get out of my head!" Hotaru shrieked, and yanked her mind away. There was an intense falling sensation, then she settled deep into sleep. 

******************* 

The firelight cast dim shadows across the whole of the room where the two met. The room was large, so large that the fitful light never touched the far wall where one of them stood silently regarding the kneeling one before her. Where the firelight touched, one could see that the walls were crystalline and glowed faintly, so very faintly that it was easy to attribute it to a trick of the eyes. It wasn't always so faint, but times had changed since these walls provided all the light they could ever want and more. 

From her kneeling position, she dared to look up at the robed figure before her. Though her features were indiscernable from the surrounding shadows, she knew her summoner's face by heart. Which was why she was reluctant to bring up this last bit of news. "Speak, child," her musical voice drifted from the shadows. 

She lowered her head again. "Mother, the Soldier of Death is caving." 

She heard the woman shift in the shadows, moving to one of the many windows that opened out onto the city. Looking up again, she saw her framed against the purple-blue of the night sky as she looked out. Suddenly, a bright flash of red light lit up the sky for a brief moment and stained the woman's pristine white robes the color of blood before it was gone just as quickly as it had come. Several more red bursts accompanied it, shorter than the first, then all was quiet again. "It is growing worse," the woman said finally, sounding sad. "I can't help but think that this worsening has to do with how the ones we're depending on are faring." 

She cleared her throat and rose after a moment's pause. "Pardon me, Mother, but I doubt that. There is no proof yet that we even need them to win this war. Certainly, I don't believe it," she said, looking at the woman's back with an air of confidence tinged with defiance. 

The woman at the window sighed. "I know the others question my actions, but I am quite sure that I am right," she said slowly. A particularly large burst of red light illuminated for a split second the woman's twin pigtails that brushed the smooth, slightly opaque crystal floor. "I commend you on feeling that you should say something, but please, have faith in me a while longer. I promise that this will bear fruit and we will be delivered into an era of peace." 

"And the Soldier of Death?" she prompted after a moment of chagrined silence. "If you are right, then she must stand firm. Should she cave, there's no stopping her from becoming-" 

"Yes, I am aware of what she will become," the woman interrupted sharply. "There is no need to speak her name in this place. I had hoped to avoid intervening in what has already been, but these times call for drastic measures. I only hope that if Sailorpluto yet lived she would agree with me. Or at least forgive me for meddling in the past." 

Just then, a thunderous blast rocked the floor beneath them accompanied by a blinding red flash. "Mother!" she cried, shielding her eyes and blindly starting forward to the window. 

"Stop!" she heard the woman's voice ring out, and she immediately froze in her tracks. When her vision cleared, she saw that she was mere steps from plunging down into darkness. She drew in a shaky breath and looked to where the woman hovered, the silver sheen of a shield partially obscuring her from sight. The room was partially gone, the crystal shaping it vaporized by a direct hit from the powerful energy blasts. Around the edges of the gaping holes, the crystal was melted and twisted into unnatural positions. Slowly, the woman descended from where she had saved herself down to what remained of the floor just as footsteps clattered down the hallway outside the room. "We can't take much more of this, child," she said breathlessly. 

She averted her eyes from the woman, her gaze wandering to the hole. Outside she could see more clearly than before the blasts rock the city that extended outward below them. The people had long since withdrawn into the corridors hastily carved out of the rock under the city, but seeing the city as it was, smouldering and falling apart beneath the eternal night sky, filled her with intense sadness. 

"We are fine," she heard the woman say to the people that streamed into the room. "It was close, but we are fine. Does the shield hold?" 

"It holds now, Mother. One failed in keeping his strength up and collapsed, so we were vulnerable until we could get a replacement. The enemy took advantage of our momentary weakness." 

"Do we have enough left to fix the damage done?" 

She heard one sigh, and she tore her eyes from the red death below her to the small group that had entered, all clad in the same white robes as she. "I'm afraid we can't spare the energy. We are all tired from maintaining the shield around the palace that we can't spare any extra." 

"I will move what I can to a new location, then," the woman said. "You may go." 

Obediantly they all filed out, leaving them alone once more. The woman began to gather books strewn about the room from the blast, picking up some and discarding others. "Mother, wouldn't it be wise to take shelter under the ground with the others? Your life is in jeopardy here," she said, helping her pick up the mess. 

The woman shook her head vehemently, pigtails whipping. "If I retreat and give up the palace, then the people will see that there is little hope left. I must keep their faith in me unshakable. We will move to the opposite side of the palace." 

There was no arguing with the Mother once she had come to a decision, so she gave up. "I must go take my turn in maintaining the shield, Mother," she said instead. 

"Go. But return immediately after you are replaced. I have a special mission for you," the woman said, fixing her with intense red eyes akin to her own. 

"I will be back as soon as I am able," she said, turning and retreating out the door. She needed to put distance between her and that hellish landscape outside she took pains never to look at. 

The woman rose from the books she had stacked on the floor and took her own turn at looking out at the city. Her city. The bright flashes lit up two of the five points of the star her city was laid out in, beyond which was nothing but land put to waste by the beseiging enemy. Even after all the countless hours put to studying what was attacking them, they still had no definite idea of who or what it was-or where they attacked from. All they knew about them was that they were cold, calculating, and rutheless. Sailormercury had taken it upon herself to leave the relative safety of the palace and gather data on the enemy unannounced three weeks ago. Two days ago, she was told that they had found her head carelessly discarded outside the city walls, the crushed remains of her computer and visor beside it. She had not cried even then; all her tears had been shed long ago at the deaths of her other friends. The tombs of the sailor senshi were almost filled; all that remained empty were the resting places of Sailoruranus and Neptune, and contact had been lost with them long ago as they fought to reclaim their land. Of her family of three, only her daughter remained safely in the palace. But she was preparing to send her off on a dangerous mission, her last stab at a resolution to this never-ending battle-one way or another. Was she destined to be alone? 

One tear leaked out of the corner of one of her red eyes and streaked down her face, a face that was rapidly aging without the ginzuishou to protect her. She had lost the ginzuishou to the enemy long ago as well. "Usagi....Mother....what would you do?" she whispered. "And you, Helios? If either of you were alive, what would you have me do?" 

***************** 

Usagi woke with a start. Sprawled as she was lengthwise across the bed, she stared at the ceiling and wondered what had woken her. She glanced beside her and smiled in spite of her disquiet at her husband asleep in the smallest portion of the bed that he could manage to occupy. He had learned early on that the only way to get a good night's sleep in bed with her was to curl up and hope for the best. Still feeling oddly disconcerted, she tucked her legs close to her body and fell asleep. 

****************** 

The light from Michiru's studio drew Haruka as she wandered their home restlessly. Silently, the blonde watched from the doorway as Michiru, perched as she was on a stool before a large canvas, slowly drew her paintbrush across its surface. Soft classical music played in the background, seemingly out of place when one looked at the half-finished panorama of destruction the aqua-haired woman was painting. 

"You couldn't sleep either?" Michiru asked, never pausing in her painting except to dip her brush into a different dark color. "I hope I didn't wake you when I got up." 

Haruka drew closer to the painting woman, stopping just behind her. "No. I was awake long before you got up," she said. 

"Setsuna's predictions disturbed you as well?" Michiru asked calmly, her brush finally faltering. "I can't get my mind to accept the fact that we face destruction in less than a year." 

The pair remained silent then, Michiru with her back to the standing blonde as she studied what she had painted. A black sky swirled with red loomed over the beginnings of some city, a city that looked broken and battered from attack after attack. Even with the painting not even halfway finished, Michiru knew what the end result was, having seen it in a dream that night. Crystal Tokyo under attack. She dreaded reaching the point where she would have to paint the palace, the jagged, misshapen spire of crystal that remained of the palace, anyway. 

"Another dream?" Haruka asked quietly. "Is it...Crystal Tokyo?" 

Michiru nodded her head once. "Yes." She resumed painting. 

For long minutes, Haruka watched Michiru paint. She had seen portions of this scene in her dreams as well, but nothing as clearly as Michiru so obviously had seen it. "Michiru..." 

"Hmm?" Michiru continued painting. 

"I...I'm sorry...for what's happened," Haruka finally managed, putting a hand on the woman's shoulders. "And for what I've said." 

This finally attracted the woman's attention, for Michiru calmly placed her paintbrush in a nearby pot of water and turned to look Haruka in the eye. "I know. It was only a matter of time." She offered the blonde a smile. 

Slowly, Haruka shook her head. "How can you say that? You don't know why I was angry in the first place." She pulled up a stool beside Michiru. "During my Trial, I saw--" 

She was interrupted by Michiru's finger on her lips. "Don't speak of it. What's done is done," she said, entirely serious. "It doesn't matter why you were angry." 

"But you passed your Trial and I failed! What will happen?" Haruka burst out. 

"We will take each day as it comes, Haruka," Michiru said with a faint smile. "And right now, I'm living for tonight." She leaned in to give the blonde a kiss, which she gladly returned. 

************************** 

Time passed. Summer hit Tokyo hard that year, bringing record high temperatures and no sign of relief in the future. Setsuna regarded this summer uneasily, wondering time after time if the unnatural temperatures were foreshadowing a more disasterous calamity. But then again, she had been looking at every unusual event from every possible angle, trying to determine if it somehow had something to do with the end of it all. She came to no conclusions. The end would come when the time was right, and when it did, it would surprise them all. 

The months ticked by, one by one. The inners kept to themselves, while the outers started each day wondering if it would be their last. Michiru reported seeing Usagi on the street some three months later, hand in hand with Mamoru and looking extremely proud of the bulge she was now sporting. Six months...only six months left... 

But the end came much sooner than that. 

Michiru was painting. Haruka was beside her. They sat silently, the aqua haired woman painting calmly and with a singleness of mind that allowed room for nothing else. Haruka watched equally silent, watched as her soulmate touched the canvas with the brush and added more chaotic swirls to the sky above the battle-torn city. Crystal buildings jutted out from the ground like broken bones, remnants of the civilization that had once lived there. Here and there, bolts of blood red lightning attacked the ground, bathing the buildings in uneasy muddy light. Rising above it all was the Crystal Palace, but not as she recognized it. It was just as ravaged as the buildings scattered around its base, fully a third of the pointed crest gone. The crystal looked mangled and dingy, more dingy than the fitful light from the sky would account for. The scene made Haruka's skin crawl. 

Michiru's brush paused. Her hand shook. Her trembling made the brush slip from her fingers and fall to the ground. "Michiru, what...?" Haruka started to ask, but even as she did so, the Aqua Mirror appeared unsummoned before them. Its surface was blank. Nothing reflected, not even their own faces. Nothing showed on its dim grey surface. 

Michiru's face turned from her painting to the mirror, then slowly turned to face Haruka. Her face was somber, though her eyes contained fear and dread. "The end. It's here," she said softly. Just as she said this, the sunshine that streamed in from the bright summer morning abruptly faded away. Haruka looked out one of the many windows and saw the landscape being enveloped in darkness, as if the sun were eclipsing... 

Setsuna, spending much of her time at the Gates, was next to be aware of it by a sense of wrongness. Her vision blurred. She felt herself stretched infinitely far, pressed down infinitely flat. The pain she experienced was beyond words, yet she felt nothing at all at the same time. Then, abruptly, it was gone. Gasping for breath as she lay where she had fallen from the suddenness of the attack, she felt as if something had just blew past her through the Gate, something too large for the small portal. She looked up, looked up to see that the Gate was black. Nothing showed. No future. No past. No present. Her heart pounding, she raced for the timestream... 

"Get...out..." Hotaru moaned in her room. "Get out...of my head..." Curled up on her bed, she was oblivious to the unnatural darkness outside. 

One voice laughed in her head, a voice that she recognized, but at the same time didn't. "Will you protect your princess? She needs you. Now." There was an echoing quality to the voice, making it sound both concerned and mocking at the same time. "You can save her." 

"Who...who are you?" Hotaru asked shakily, not even aware that she was speaking aloud to a voice inside her mind. Yet somehow, the voice knew what she had said. 

All at once, the voice changed. "Why...I just want to help," a voice said, filled with compassion. The Good Voice she recognized from the time after her Trial. 

Another change."Help...yes, help," the Bad Voice agreed, though the tone was malicious. 

All at once, Hotaru realized that the Voices were both one and the same. Two halves of a whole. Her heart sank. 

"Yes, Sailorsaturn. You finally realize that you have been tricked this entire time. There is no 'good' or 'bad' voice. Only I." The two different voices merged into the echoing voice, the voice she knew as its real voice. "Your future self." 

It took a moment for the impact of these words to take hold, but when they did, her heart was seized by icy hands. "My...future self? I am...will be...you?" Her mind whirled from the implications. 

"Yes, Hotaru. I have come to you with a choice. What you decide will decide your future," the voice of her future self said bemusedly, as if it enjoyed the weight she had just placed on Hotaru's shoulders. The echo of the bemusement sounded tender and apologetic, as if guilty for giving her such a burden. 

The two entirely different tones to the voice made it hard for Hotaru to decide which was her future self's true feelings. Maybe they both were, and she was doomed to become torn between two very different personalities. This thought so chilled her that she remained silent. The voice went on, though. 

"You may help your Princess finally, with the battle that is to come. It will be against what your friends would want you to do. You may use your power without fear of injuring yourself or any of your friends at last, which is your deepest wish, is it not?" When Hotaru didn't respond, the voice laughed shortly as if unsurprised. "Or, you may accompany your friends and watch as they help the Princess instead. More will die this way, however your Princess will still be safe, and you would have acted how your friends will want you to. What is your decision?" 

Hotaru felt helpless. The Princess would be safe either way, which was what she and the outers lived for, yet her duty was ultimately to the people and the planet. One way would save the lives of her friends, and the other would put them into jeopardy. Unbidden, words from her Trial echoed in her mind. 

(...what if, to save the planet from evil, you must decide between your friends' lives and your duty?...) 

Was this what the Voice from then had meant? What was the right decision? To keep her friends safe, she was sure. The Princess would still be safe, and she would finally be able to do her part to keep her safe. But still, something held her back. Hotaru couldn't help but think there was a catch to this that she couldn't see. 

Dark laughter echoed in her mind. She knew then that her thoughts were being read, and that her future self knew her ultimate decision. But it was too late to rethink, for she felt her hold and control over her body slowly slip away. She was already too far gone to determine whether her scream for help passed beyond her lips or if it only echoed in her mind... 

************************************ 

Pieces of the crystal ceiling fell with a musical tinkle around them as the palace shook from its very foundation. "You must go, Daughter!" she said urgently. "We have little time!" 

"But mother! The attacks have increased so much! I can't leave now!" the red-head protested. "And I don't understand why you're sending me away anyway!" 

"To save us!" the woman said through clenched teeth, brushing stray pieces of sugar-pink hair from her face. "All will be will here. You have to go back and try to stop this all from happening!" She watched as her daughter wrestled with her emotions, and correctly guessed the track of her thoughts. "Daughter...Hoshi...I know I sent you away once, and for that I am sorry. Even as young as you were, you still handled yourself wonderfully. I need your help again...this one last time." 

Hoshi considered her mother's words, knowing with a sinking feeling deep inside that there really was no decision to make. "I will go," she said at last, just as a deafening explosion rocked the palace. A slab of crystal dislodged itself from the ceiling and hurtled towards her mother. A bright sphere of silvery light enveloped the pink-haired woman and the substantial piece of crystal was harmlessly deflected. Hoshi was swiftly at her mother's side, supporting the older woman as the silver shield vanished and she stumbled. 

"It's so hard now, without the ginzuishou," her mother breathed to no-one in particular, accepting the help. "With each passing day I feel my slow aging melt away a little more. I'm starting to feel my age." 

"Don't talk like that!" Hoshi said sharply. "I'll do all I can to change things." 

The woman nodded in tired acceptance. "That is all I ask." 

With a last look, Hoshi gathered up her power as she had been taught and, with a blinding flash of pink light, she was gone. Her mission had begun. 

Usagi--she had done away with her affectionate name of Chibi-usa long ago--looked out the window of her new room. She knew that the outers she had Hoshi test in the past were poised at a critical moment, for the attacks had doubled in frequency and power. She only hoped her daughter would be successful. 

Suddenly, the already-dim fire that burned low on the hearth went out completely, plunging Usagi into darkness. A presence filled the room, malicious and smothering. "You have failed before you have begun, my Queen," a hateful voice sneered from the dark around Usagi. "Can't you see that?" 

Usagi took a steadying breath, barely recognizing the voice she knew buried under the evil. "Why are you doing this to us?" she asked. "You're one of us!" Her eyes, gradually adjusting to the new dark, saw the red light from the fight outside reflect on the curved metal blade of a weapon. "~She came under her senshi guise?~" 

"I am NOT one of you!" the holder of the weapon shot back. "I craved something more than you _friends_ could give me!" 

"Why have you come?" Usagi asked tiredly. "If you seek my surrender, you won't have it." 

A low chuckle. "Just to tell you that your attempts to change the past won't work. I've already taken steps to prevent whatever you do." 

Usagi stilled. "What do you mean?" 

"Simply this. Did your daughter tell you that some of the outers you're relying on failed the Tests you had her give them? They will be mine," the intruder said smugly. "Oh, and just so you're aware, the Saturn you're trying to save also failed hers. She is in my hands already. I hold your ginzuishou, the bodies and blood of your husband and your mother, and your last hope at changing their future-your present. What will you do now, beloved Queen? What will you do now?" 

The smothering presence of the intruder vanished, leaving Usagi gulping for air. Her mind was racing, and her heart fluttered fearfully. Was everything she had been planning on about to crash around her? She struggled to remember if the outers of her time had passed their Trials, but honestly couldn't recall. 

Usagi moved to one of the clear glass crystal panes and looked outside. It was dark as pitch outside, save the frequent red bolts that came crashing from the sky and, with luck, deflected off the glimmering silver shield over the city. Usagi rested her forehead on the cool glass and looked upward at the sky. "Hotaru...why are you doing this to us? Why?" 

****************************** 

The sun had indeed been eclipsed. Looking up, they could faintly see a glowing golden aura around a giant black disk, the only glimpse of the sun beyond. "What is that?" Haruka asked of Michiru, who wordlessly shook her head in response. There was no suitable response. 

"The question is, will it move?" 

The pair turned from the window they stood before to see Setsuna. "This is how it will end, then?" Michiru asked of the green-haired woman who nodded once in return. 

"The scientists are at a loss to explain it, and they're scrambling to come up with answers. The truth of the matter is, the object you see out there will not move. It will remain where it is, positioned between us and the sun, blocking out the rays until the planet is thoroughly frozen." Setsuna's voice was as steady as if she were reporting the weather, but her dark complexion looked several shades paler and her garnet eyes were restless as they darted between the pair and the outdoors. 

The fact that even Setsuna was shaken by this turn of events further alarmed Michiru. "What is it?" she asked thinly. "I can't imagine something of that size just appearing from nowhere." 

Setsuna shook her head. "I don't know what it is, nor how it came to appear. I can only guess, because the Gates went dark so suddenly, that it came from the future." 

Haruka turned back to the window. "I always thought things would end...differently," she mused. "Not as unelegantly as freezing to death..." She spoke like she was unconcerned with the whole ordeal, but Michiru knew her better. Haruka was as rattled as the rest of them. She took the blonde's hand. 

"We can't do anything about this?" Michiru asked though she already knew the answer. 

Setsuna shook her head. "Nothing. We have to rely on Usagi to know what to do. This is what wakens Crystal Tokyo," she said solemnly. She looked startled as a realization hit her, and she added, "I'm going to check the crystal." With that, she left. 

Michiru turned back to the window. It had been early evening when the sun had first been eclipsed, but now the time was drawing closer to sunset. Silently, for there were no words to describe the scene before them, they watched the black disk with the weak golden aura from the sun set. There was barely any color to the sky, only a slight orange flare in an otherwise cobalt sky just as the last tip of it sank out of sight. Somehow, the colorless sunset was even more ominous than the black disk that blocked the sun's light to Michiru, who had the unnerving idea that this might very well be the last sunset they see for an eternity... 

Setsuna was back moments later. "The crystal is gone," Setsuna told them as if unsurprised. "And...so is Hotaru." 

This caught their attention. "She couldn't have gone with the crystal, could she?" Michiru asked, looking to Haruka. 

"If she did, we have to stop her. If that crystal fell into the wrong hands..." Haruka deliberately left that statement unfinished, knowing that they understood just as well as she the dangers of having the senshi of Destruction with the future palace of Crystal Tokyo. All three of them looked grimly at each other. 

"Pluto Planet Power..." Setsuna raised her golden wand, power swirling her green-black hair around her. 

"Uranus Planet Power..." Haruka likewise raised hers, looking determined. 

"Neptune Planet Power..." Michiru tossed her aqua-green hair as she raised hers. 

"MAKE UP!" they chorused. A blinding flash of ilght and three sailor senshi stood where Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru once were. 

"We'll find Hotaru when we find the crystal, I have no doubt," Setsuna said. "However, Tokyo is a large place, so we'll split up." The other two nodded. With a last look, they took off at a dead run for the outskirts of Tokyo. Setsuna set off for downtown. She prayed they weren't too late... 

***************************************** 

Mamoru almost forced Usagi to turn off the television that night. Usagi had been pacing between the balcony of their apartment to gaze at the disk over the sun with fear mixed with uncertainty and perching nervously on the edge of the couch and watching news reports since it had begun. Panic was sweeping the globe as the scientists of the world put their heads together to come up with a poorly-conceived story intended to calm the people. It didn't work. Riots broke out worldwide, ending in violence and death only to spring up elsewhere. Martial law had been declared in America, and though Usagi only had a vague idea of what martial law was, she was gripped by fear anyway. The world was falling apart before her, and the thought of so many people suffering brought her close to tears. She hugged her growing stomach close as she watched news clips of fear-stricken people clawing at military officials everywhere, and the leaders of the world trying their best to calm them. What sort of world would her daughter be born in? 

And so, Mamoru turned off the TV, despite Usagi's protests and pleaded with her until she finally gave in and meekly threw herself in bed. Even though she thought she wouldn't sleep a bit, she was asleep almost immediately. 

Usagi woke again not long after first falling asleep, roused by a strange feeling of urgency. She rose from the bed and padded to the window overlooking downtown Tokyo, unsure of what it was she looked for. She stood there for long moments, just preparing to return to bed when a blinding silvery-white flash momentarily blinded her as it bathed her in its light. The same light that had flooded into her when she was close to what would become the palace of Crystal Tokyo. 

"So warm..." she murmered, unaware of Mamoru tossing fitfully in his sleep behind her. She moved as if in a dream to the bureau across the room. Usagi dug into the top drawer, withdrawing at last the brooch she never used anymore. Still moving dreamily, she left the bedroom and went out onto the living room balcony. The light still glittered from somewhere downtown, and she couldn't seem to tear her eyes from it. 

She was only half aware of touching the brooch she held and whispering, "Moon Eternal...Make Up!" In the blink of an eye she stood in her Eternal Sailormoon fuku, graceful white wings streatching out behind her. Usagi wondered vaguely at what she was doing, but the twinkle of light caused that thought to vanish as she lept gracefully from the balcony towards it. 

************************************ 

Plunging into downtown Tokyo, Sailorpluto let her senses roam free. Almost immediately, she felt the crystal tugging on her mind, tugging on her with incredible force. She thought fleetingly of contacting Sailoruranus and Neptune, but no doubt they would discover the crystal soon enough. Heedless of caution, she raced with inhuman speed through the narrow streets of Tokyo. And then, as she came to one of the major intersections directly in the heart of Tokyo, she glanced to her right-and stopped. 

The crystal had grown radically. Embedded in the pavement of the street, it reached upwards of twenty feet or more into the air and glittered so brightly that Sailorpluto had difficulty looking at it for long periods of time. 

A mighty leap carried Sailorpluto to the roofs running along both sides of the street. Slowly she approached a position closer to the crystal, choosing the roof of a low building and settling in to wait. She contemplated the enlarged crystal below her for a minute or two, ultimately deciding she could already see the palace beginning to form. Was it her imagination or was it still enlarging very slowly? Not that it mattered any; she was here for another reason. Sailorsaturn must be kept from the crystal at all costs. She knew Sailorsaturn would happen by her position sooner or later, and it made more sense to sit and wait than to waste valuable time scournig the city. Sailorsaturn would be by. Sooner or later. 

"I've never seen Tokyo so dead," Sailorneptune commented as she and Sailoruranus paused momentarily in their search. 

"They're inside," Sailoruranus responded absently, her attention elsewhere. "Look," she said, nodding her head at a storefront. 

The display consisted of televisions, all tuned to the same channel. Though there was no sound, the grim-faced reporter and short clips of frightened people were clear enough messages. People were urged to stay indoors. Then, the reporter vanished, replaced by an unsteady picture. A helicopter was circling what was apparently downtown Tokyo, the caption that appeared a moment later confirming this. A bright object glittered from some internal light, the brightness making it hard to clearly discern the edges. 

"The crystal..." Sailorneptune said after a moment, after the picture had returned to the newscaster. "I'm sure it was. Just before the picture changed, I thought I saw Sailorpluto on one of the buildings." 

But Sailoruranus wasn't paying attention. Staring down the street they were on, she said abruptly, "I thought I just saw Usagi." 

"Her too?" Sailorneptune said with a sigh. "I had hoped she wouldn't get involved. If she finds Sailorsaturn before we do, there's no telling what will happen." Usagi-rather, Sailormoon-would put herself in grave danger to save the life of a friend, even if that friend might be Sailorsaturn. 

Sailoruranus shook her head. "I might have just been seeing things. Let's go." With that, she took off at a run, Sailorneptune matching her step for step. 

A light drizzle began to fall as Sailorpluto looked watchfully down the street, searching for movement of any sort. She would probably have been uncomfortable as she slowly got soaked, had she not been transformed. As she was, however, it was barely noticeable. A helicopter had happened over not too long ago, though she made no attempts to hide herself. As she watched down the street, she let her thoughts drift to the up-and-coming end, wondering what sort of role they would play. Having spent many many years watching the ebb and flow of Time and Destiny, however, Sailorpluto knew that acting as they would have in any situation would fulfill their part. However, she still half-wished she knew. 

Her thoughts scattered as she saw movement. A lone figure rounded the corner down the street and stopped. Sailorpluto tensed as she took in the laced purple boots, the purple fuku, and short black hair. Sailorsaturn. As if she were waiting to be recognized, the senshi started forward toward the growing crystal. 

Sailorpluto stood and leaped into the air, grasping her Time Staff out of nowhere as she landed lightly between Sailorsaturn and the crystal. Sailorsaturn looked at her vaguely through vacant eyes, then made as if to move around her. 

"Stop, Hotaru!" Sailorpluto demanded, moving in front of her once more. "Don't you know what you're doing?" 

Sailorsaturn gave Sailorpluto another vacant look, then remarkably lept into the air and landed some distance beyond her and much closer to the crystal. She resumed her measured steps to reach it. 

Sailorpluto gripped her Time Staff and ran after Sailorsaturn. Sweeping it low, she caught the girl off balance and sent her tumbling to the ground. Sailorpluto was on her in an instant, pinning her to the pavement with the help of the staff. "Hotaru! Listen to me!" 

Gone was the vacant look in an instant, replaced by one of anger. Snarling savagely, Sailorsaturn flexed her pinned arms and Sailorpluto was sent flying by some unseen force. 

Sailorpluto tucked her head low and rolled to a stop, looking up just in time to see Sailorsaturn regain her footing and call her Silence Glaive to her hands. Springing into the air again, she flew at Sailorpluto, who was only just able to roll away from the razor-sharp blade of the glaive. Once again she was on her feet in an instant, twirling her Time Staff around her. "Dead...Scream..." she whispered, the resulting purple orb of power flying towards the enraged senshi. 

Sailorsaturn whipped around from her landing just in time to see it coming at her. She leapt deftly aside, avoiding all of the orb that crashed into a nearby building. Quickly recovering from her dodge, she ran at Sailorpluto, slashing wildly with her weapon. Caught off guard, Sailorpluto stumbled backward, avoiding the wicked blade. Her back collided with the wall of a building, and she was barely able to deflect the next slash with her staff. The two weapons locked, Sailorsaturn glaring red anger at Sailorpluto as her glaive inched closer and closer to Sailorpluto. Gritting her teeth at the unexpected strength of the younger girl, Sailorpluto threw all the strength she had at her attacker. All she managed to do was halt the slowly descending blade as her arms, trembling from the exhertion, fought to maintain their hold. If her strength gave out now, she was as good as dead. 

Unexpectedly, Sailorsaturn grinned maliciously. Switching tactics, she thrust the lower haft of her glaive into Sailorpluto's unprotected midsection. As the air wooshed from Sailorpluto's lungs, Sailorsaturn yanked upward and successfully knocked the Time Staff from Sailorpluto's hands, sending it spinning across the pavement. 

Sailorpluto doubled over, fighting to regain breath enough to act before her attacker took advantage of this opportunity. As spots danced across her vision, she saw Sailorsaturn leap into the air and descend on her with the Silence Glaive. She tried to stumble aside, but her legs wouldn't cooperate. Dismayed, she watched the glittering blade fall... 

"Venus Love Me Chain!" 

A strand of glowing linked hearts shot from the dimness of the pre-dawn and wrapped around the glaive's haft. The chain snapped taunt, jerking Sailorsaturn from the air as she strived to keep a hold on her weapon. She crashed hard to the ground at Sailorpluto's feet, her glaive clattering not far away. Still trying to draw a full breath into her lungs, Sailorpluto rose and carefully nudged Sailorsaturn's still form. Satisfied that she was safely unconscious, she turned to her rescuers. 

Sailorvenus stood at the head of the group of four, releasing the chain of hearts and allowing them to dissolve into nothing. Sailorvenus, Sailormars, Sailormercury, and Sailorjupiter regarded Sailorpluto closely. "What's going on here?" Sailorvenus asked, speaking for the group. Her tone was cool, and her blue eyes were serious. 

"I don't know," Sailorpluto replied honestly. An expert at skirting around the truth, she wasn't prepared to tell these four senshi-barely adults-about the impending end of it all. She saw immediately that her response was not taken seriously, and continued, "The crystal vanished and Sailorsaturn started acting strangely. I do not know more than that." 

Sailormercury stepped forward next to Sailorvenus then, blue-tinted visor shading her eyes as she took in readings from all around. "And this mysterious eclipse?" she asked. "My computer will not register the object covering the sun even exists, but we all know that for a lie. Surely you must know something." 

Sailorpluto considered her words carefully and was just about to respond when Sailorjupiter suddenly stiffened. "Sailormoon?" she asked in disbelief, looking beyond Sailorpluto in the direction of the crystal. The others craned their necks, and their faces lit up. Sailorpluto turned as well. 

Eternal Sailormoon stood not far from the crystal, feathery wings in place of her stiff-looking fuku wings fluttering in the pre-dawn breeze. Her eyes were clear as far as Sailorpluto could see, and trained on the limp form of Sailorsaturn. Looking at Sailorsaturn, she noticed that the senshi of Silence was stirring. Within moments, she would be awake again. "What is wrong with Hotaru?" Sailormoon asked quietly, her eyes still trained on the waking senshi. "Something is wrong." 

Sailorsaturn's head snapped up. Startlingly, she laughed. In a voice Sailorpluto found both familiar and strange, she said, "I have won. The Sailorsaturn of the past is mine." It clicked for Sailorpluto then that the voice indeed sounded like Hotaru...a Hotaru of several years older. Her mind whirled as she stood there mutely, unsure of how to act. Was this how Crystal Tokyo was supposed to come into being? 

"Mars....Flame...Sniper!" A bolt of flame arced out from behind Sailorpluto toward Sailorsaturn who was still chuckling darkly as she stood. Without even turning to face the attack, a globe of purple energy sprung up around her, deflecting Sailormars' attack. Sailorsaturn lunged for the crystal. The four senshi gasped in shock at the ease Sailormars' attack was foiled and started dashing forward in a half-hearted attempt to reach Sailorsaturn before she touched the crystal, but Sailorpluto just looked on grimly, a fist clenched to her side. This was between Sailormoon and Sailorsaturn. She was not going to intervene...was not going to intervene... 

********************************* 

"We're too late," Sailorneptune breathed as Sailorsaturn lunged unhindered for the crystal. Suddenly, Eternal Sailormoon shot down from the sky, flying toward the crystal on her wings. She stretched for the crystal just as Sailorsaturn did as well. They touched, seemingly at the same moment. Time slowed. Sailorsaturn laughed darkly, a laugh not her own as she glowed a sickly purple-black. 

"Hotaru, why are you doing this?" Sailormoon burst out then, both hands pressed up against the crystal. "Why are you against us again? Did I fail to banish all the evil inside you when I gave you a new life? Is this my fault?" 

Sailorsaturn, still glowing, laughed loudly. "There is always evil, Sailormoon. Without evil, there would be no reason for good. The universe needs evil just as it needs good. Evil is the balancing force. Yet I are not content with this, so I seek more. And you senshi are the only beings that might possess enough power to stand in my way." 

Sailorneptune felt a splinter of fear lodge itself in her spine. Those same words were spoken at her Trial, the Trial she had fought her own lover in. Fought and killed. She looked at Sailoruranus beside her, who looked back inquiringly. Sailorneptune shook her head wordlessly, then turned back to the drama playing out before them. Sailorpluto was there, but what did she want them to do? 

"You will not win," all watching heard Sailormoon say confidently as she glowed an answering pink. But almost as soon as she did so, the purple-black of Sailorsaturn's aura raced across the crystal's surface. A thin whine resonated from deep within the crystal, increasing in intensity until the very ground beneath them heaved and buckled uncontrollably. The buildings around them creaked and groaned alarmingly, showering the senshi with pieces of concrete and glass. Sailorpluto was struck a glancing blow by one of the larger pieces and crumpled to the pavement unconscious. "What should I have done...?" ran through her head before she knew nothing. 

**************************** 

Amid all this, a figure appeared unnoticed. She surveyed the scene with some horror. "This isn't right! I'm too late!" Hoshi moaned, glancing first at the two locked in a struggle for the crystal, then at the other senshi standing in small groups and watching in horror. Her mind raced. How could she salvage this? Then, her eyes fell on Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune. 

"There is no choice. Sailorsaturn must be stopped," Sailoruranus said. Unbiddingly, an image from her Trial flashed through her mind of the false Hotaru with the uncertain, flickering face and the words she had first said. "~What's the matter, Haruka-poppa...?~" 

An unfelt wind rushed past her ears. "World..." 

The ocean waves only Sailorneptune could see crashed around her. "Deep..." 

"STOP!" a voice shrieked. "Stop and run or your lives are forfeit! The crystal is preparing to unleash forces you cannot stand against! For the sake of the Queen, RUN!" 

Thrown off by this unexpected voice, their attacks fizzled. Apparently the other senshi heard this same voice, for they were looking at each other uneasily. 

"RUN! DON'T HESITATE!" 

The thin whine from deep inside the crystal was quickly turning into a howl. As one, the inner senshi turned and ran. 

"Cowards," Sailoruranus spat, though uneasiness colored her voice. "We stand together." Wind howled in her hears. Winds of Change. Winds of Destruction. The storm she had sensed from the beginning was breaking upon them. 

"Fools! Go!" the same voice ordered. 

"We can't die here, Haruka. It isn't the time. I can feel that," Sailorneptune said rapidly. "We must go." Without waiting to see if Sailoruranus understood, she ran over to Sailorpluto's unmoving form and began dragging her away slowly. Too slowly. Sailoruranus felt tension in the air, the power she sensed around the crystal preparing to unleash. Too late. Desperately, she ran after Sailorneptune, shoving both her and the unconscious Sailorpluto roughly into a nearby alley. 

The howling grew to earsplitting proportions, then, everything went silent. Not the silence of a calm, but weird, unnatural silence of a world devoid of sound. Sailorneptune tried to say something, but her words were swallowed up. Sailorneptune and Sailoruranus looked at each other grimly, knowing Sailorsaturn was unleashing her world-destroying powers. Their hands found each other just as a deep, final-sounding rumble began in the ground accompanied by a tremendous crash. The wall they huddled under began to creak, bow, and finally buckle, sending bricks and concrete slabs raining down on them. The walls crashed around them, their cries swallowed up by the rumbling... 

************************************** 

Usagi felt her control slipping, felt all her incarnations being slowly, painfully, stripped from her until she was no more than an average Tokyo high school student. Deep in her mind, she heard the cries of her friends, felt the very planet groan in anguish. The people of the planet were in jeopardy she realized with a pang of pure fear. She reached inside her, touched her soul, brushed her link with Mamoru-where was he?-and felt even her identity as Chiba-Tsukino Usagi vanish. It was time to become something more than a mere student, time to become what she had been destined to become from the very beginning. With this revelation, pure, holy power bubbled up within her. "Sleep..." she breathed her command, carried into the minds of all the people of the planet who would listen. "All will be ready when you wake." Then, wielding her new power, she returned to the struggle with Sailorsaturn as the unquestioned ruler of the new world-Neo-Queen Serenity. 

*********************************** 

The effects of the epic battle were felt in all corners of the world. People watched uneasily as the skies turned an awful red, as a solid wall of purple-black sped across the land. But, proceeding this, people felt their minds touched by peace, calm, and caring. Heeding the words spoken in their mind, they dropped into a deep sleep, undisturbed even by the wave of Destruction that swept over them and left the people untouched. The wave ripped across the planet, leaving nothing but the sleeping remnants of mankind in its wake. Thrown into violent upheaval, violent storms rocked the blasted surface with gale-force winds and incessant lightning. Far to the south and north, the temperatures dropped so much that the icecaps grew to double their proportions. And, above this, the ominous black sphere that had appeared so mysteriously hung unmoving in the sky, a blank eye witness to the destruction below. The end had come. 

But even among all the devastation, a bright twinkle of light shone from what had once been Japan. Soaring a mile or more into the air, the spire of crystal jutted up from the skeletal remains of a city. A silent sentinel lying in quiet wait for the people that would eventually come inhabit its halls. A bright point of hope, waiting for a time when they would wake to find it. 

********************************** 

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	6. Beginning of the End

Crystal Trials – The Beginning of the End

The long-awaited answers to many questions are found here! Sorry this one took so long to write (a month and a half, at least), but college, as well as other things, have gotten in the way. This part isn't nearly as fast as the other parts before have been, but its necessary to advance the plot. The next one will make up for this one. Promise. As before, keep in mind that, in Japan, last names are first, so Tsukino Usagi would be Usagi Tsukino here in America: 

Main Characters 

[Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto][1]   
[Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus][2]   
[Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn][3]   
[Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune][4]   
Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon   
Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury   
Hino Rei - Sailormars   
Kino Makoto - Sailorjupiter   
Aino Minako - Sailorvenus 

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

************************************** 

Michiru felt bruised and bloodied, but she felt an odd sense of being reborn again. She felt—clean. The pain she felt assured her that she was indeed alive, so she painfully opened her eyes. It was dark all around her, but she saw strange gaps in the darkness she couldn't explain. After careful thought and adjusting her eyes to the darkness around her, she realized she was under bricks, remembering then the wall falling around her. She listened carefully around her and heard nothing that would account for life. Desolation welled up deep within her as she stared out the gaps in the rubble at the sky above. The sky reminded her of the sky from her painting. 

She tried to move after a time, and found not bricks above her, but a person. 

"Michiru?" a strained voice asked. It was Haruka above her. Michiru couldn't surpress a sigh of relief. 

"Bruised and cut. Nothing more," she replied. "Can you move?" 

"I think…" Pebbles skittered down from the rocks above as Haruka shifted slowly. As the bricks rolled away, arctic breezes swept into their crevasse. It took the work of several minutes until Haruka finally straightened. She looked as battered as Michiru felt, but otherwise unhurt. 

Michiru pulled herself up, then stared with wide eyes at the destruction around her. Tokyo as she knew it was gone; the only remains were scattered bits of dirty concrete jutting up from the ground that reminded Michiru eerily of broken bones. A gust of wind howled past the pair, a wind that felt as if it came direct from the Arctic Circle itself. It swirled up the snow on the ground as it passed, settling it elsewhere in large drifts that rested against the remaining walls. The sky roiled angrily red and black, occasionally scattering snow across the landscape as it rolled by. It wasn't fully dark, but instead a sort of dim dusk, a dusk tinted the color of blood. Yes, it was her painting all over again. 

So caught up in looking at the horrific landscape around her that she momentarily forgot about Setsuna. Remembering all at once, she dug frantically through the rubble until she uncovered the guardian of Time. Dried blood caked Setsuna's face from a wound on her forehead, but her face held color and her breathing was regular. Michiru cleared the rest of the rubble away from the fallen senshi slowly and methodically, her eyes darting up from her task occasionally to look at the land around. 

"We're no longer transformed, Michiru," Haruka said suddenly. 

Michiru looked down and realized she was indeed in the clothes she had been wearing before transforming in search of Sailorsaturn and the crystal. How long ago had the world been normal? Aloud, she absently replied, "Extreme strain caused us to revert back, I'm sure." She didn't notice the short, concise way she spoke these words, so uncharacteristic of her, but Haruka did. 

Haruka watched Michiru work for a bit longer before saying, "I'm going to look around." Michiru nodded wordlessly from where she was crouched by Setsuna's side, absently wiping clean the unconscious woman's face as best she could with a torn scrap of fabric. So deep in thought, she didn't notice Haruka's worried frown before she moved carefully away through the remains. What would happen to them now? 

Setsuna stirred then, opening her blood-gummed eyes and looking around blearily. Seeing the destruction, her garnet eyes grew somber. "We were too late?" she asked of Michiru. 

"I don't know," Michiru replied. "Haruka went to look around." 

Setsuna got to her feet just as the blonde returned. "The palace is here," Haruka said at once, gesturing beyond the remains of the building behind them that blocked their view. "And there's something else…something you should see." 

"Show us," Setsuna said, falling into the role of leader. Michiru nodded. 

Haruka led them away from where they had hid to a spot not far away. The wind was stronger out here, taking their breath away with its biting cold. "How is it so cold?" Michiru asked, rubbing her arms. 

"It must be the object out there," Setsuna ventured slowly, looking up at the dense clouds that obscured their view of the sky. "The climate has changed." 

"So soon?" 

Setsuna was silent for a moment. "Perhaps we were unconscious longer than we think," she said at last. 

"Here," Haruka said abruptly, stopping in the middle of the street. The palace loomed large over them, glittering so brightly that Michiru's eyes watered after staring at it. She turned her attention instead to the object in the street. 

At first it looked like nothing more than an overly large, lumpy piece of ice, but, at Haruka's urging, Michiru rubbed at the surface and gasped. There was indeed a thin layer of ice covering it, but underneath was clear crystal. Frozen inside the crystal was a face of a person. Struck with a morbid fascination, she rubbed more away and saw that the person was curled up into a ball, knees tucked under their chin. 

"They're all like that," Haruka said, pointing out other lumps of frosted-over crystal. Now that she knew what to look for, Michiru found numerous others littering the area. "Alive as far as I can tell…alive, but asleep." 

The three of them stood there for long moments as the wind whistled around, whipping up eddies of snow in its wake. Looking at it's passing, a thought rose unbidden in Michiru's mind. 

> (…just like when I visited Uranus…we would sit in the solarium with the fireplace and watch the storms…the lightning was always the most extraordinary shade of blue…) 

Where had that come from? That had been an entire lifetime ago, when she and Sailoruranus fought off potential threats to the Moon Kingdom, not as senshi, but as the rulers of their planets. She shouldn't be having these thoughts… 

"We should go to the palace," Setsuna said, interrupting Michiru's thoughts. Without waiting to see if they followed, she set off for the palace. Haruka and Michiru followed. 

Haruka dropped back to where Michiru walked and fell into step beside her. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly. 

"Fine…I'm just thinking," Michiru replied. What would happen to them? What did that thought mean? 

Haruka regarded her silently for a moment as they walked. "Whatever happens to me because of my Trial, the Princess must be protected," she said at last. 

"I know," Michiru said, faltering in her steps for a moment. She lapsed into silence again as they neared the crystal face of the palace. Haruka took her hand. 

Before them, a doorway opened out of the smooth, seamless crystal. One by one they slowly entered the palace and paused hesitantly inside. Warmth washed over them and chased away the chill of the outside as light, several degrees gentler than that of the glittering outside of the palace, illuminated the whole of the inside. They stood at the start of a long, wide corridor that ended at a set of intricate double doors done in creamy ivory. Running both sides of the corridor at regular intervals were doorways, all closed. 

Wordlessly, the trio made their way down the corridor towards the set of double doors. Haruka glanced backwards once and noticed without any real surprise that the doorway outside was gone. They reached the edoors and stopped, looking for a way to open it. Haruka solved this problem after she placed her hand against the door and attempted to shove it open. Soundlessly, on its own power, the doors swung inward to reveal what was so obviously the throne room. Columns extending along either side of the vast room drew the eyes to the trio of thrones on the dais. None were occupied, and the room was vacant. 

"It doesn't look like anybody's here…or still awake," Michiru commented quietly. 

"There's still the upper levels," Setsuna replied neutrally. "We will look up there before we come to any conclusions." She led the way to the back of the vast central room, where a curtain hung. Pushing it aside, she followed the small crystal corridor to the very end where a series of ramps led both upwards and downwards. 

Haruka followed Setsuna as she led the way up, but asked, "How is it you know this so well?" 

Never pausing in her climb up the curving ramp, Setsuna responded, "The time may be different but the palace remains the same." 

They proceeded upward, passing many floors in their trek, until they couldn't go any further. Strangely enough, though they had been climbing for a quarter hour or more, none of them felt the least bit winded. They followed another narrow corridor to a point where it opened up into a garden. Looking up, they saw the ceiling high above slope inward to meet at a point somewhere over the center of the vast area. They were at the very top of the palace. Trees and bushes and plants of every imaginable size, shape, and color lined and screened in the cobbled crystal path they stood upon. Somewhere close they heard water running, and the fragrant smell of apple and cherry blossoms assailed their noses. "These are the Queen's gardens. If Usagi is in the palace, she will be here," Setsuna said. 

They walked along the shaded path until it opened out onto a grassy hill. Atop the rise was the far wall of the palace. Looking out the crystal, perfectly clear in that one section, was Usagi—no, Neo-Queen Serenity. Her twin golden pigtails almost reached her feet, where her flowing white dress pooled. Atop her head was the intricate golden crown they all recognized. 

"Usagi?" Haruka ventured. 

The queen turned away from the window with a startled gasp and a fearful look in her clear blue eyes. Her arms were curled protectively over her stomach—was it their imagination or had it grown noticeably? "Who…? Oh…yes…It is good to see you alive. When you didn't appear with the others…well…I feared the worst." 

Michiru tried not to gape at how changed Usagi was. "Has it really been that long?" 

The woman turned back to the window. "A month, at least. It's hard to say with no day or night," she responded tonelessly. "Ami, Rei, Minako, and Makoto arrived a week or so ago. They're…resting…right now." 

"A month?" Haruka burst out incredulously. "How?" 

"Just before…before the palace created itself and the world was destroyed, I told everyone to sleep. To keep them safe," she related distantly. "They weren't unmade like everything else." 

"And Sailorsaturn?" Setsuna asked, not missing the fact Usagi didn't mention her. "What of her?" 

Usagi affected not to hear. "Mamoru is out there somewhere…" she said softly. "The Earth is in upheaval, and I pray he's alright." 

Mamoru—Tuxedo Kamen—was connected to the planet in ways they could only imagine. What happens to the planet affects Mamoru. "We can go look for him if you'd like, Usagi," Michiru offered, feeling awkward at referring to her as Usagi. 

The queen turned away from the window at last. "No," she said. "I want you to go rest with the others." 

"You want us to go back to sleep, is what you mean," Setsuna stated. 

"Yes," she said with a nod. "I've been fighting off sleep until you three appeared again. We have to sleep until the planet is ready again. We cannot possibly live normally for as long as it requires." 

Setsuna nodded after a moment. "I agree." 

She pointed down a path branching off from the one they stood on. "Follow this path. It will bring you to your rooms," she said. The queen glanced at Haruka and Michiru and looked like she was going to say more, but decided better of it. "Take care," she said instead, looking at Haruka. 

Haruka felt a chill pass over her. Suddenly, she knew deep inside that something was going to happen, something inevitable. "Come on, Michiru," she said roughly. "I'm tired." 

Michiru hesitated, wanting to ask more about what had happened and what will happen in the future. The queen saw this and said, "Go to sleep, Michiru. You can ask when you wake." 

Usagi watched the pair go with a heavy heart. With the crown on her head came knowledge, knowledge of the Trials the outers had undergone, and of the outcomes. And the fate of the ones who failed. She looked out over the sleeping city. Her sleeping city. Her sleeping _world_. 

"How many did you save, my Queen?" Setsuna asked softly. The time had come to give the girl she had known the respect she deserved. 

The response was a long time in coming, and when it did, Setsuna felt chilled. "Japan," she replied harshly. "And part of China. That is all. I wasn't strong enough for more." 

"And Hotaru?" Setsuna pressed. 

"Gone." 

Setsuna stiffened. "Gone? She escaped?" 

"No. Taken. I tried to save her, but she was taken before I could." Usagi sighed. "I slept a little after the battle. In my dreams, I was contacted by…someone…from far into the future. I was told that the Sailorsaturn of their time embraced the darkness and turned on them, and that they were fighting a losing battle against her. In desperation, the queen is trying to change the past so Sailorsaturn never turns evil, and in turn give them a future. But the Sailorsaturn of her time knows this and is trying to do the opposite. She has taken our Sailorsaturn from us to bring the evil out inside her, and plans to release her upon us, perpetuating her power. 

"Manipulating time?" Setsuna asked. "That goes against everything I was taught. Doesn't their Sailorpluto know this?" 

"She is dead. Along with all the other senshi except Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune who have been missing for weeks. I saw the tombs. And visions of how some of them ended." Usagi's voice grated harshly in her throat. 

Setsuna's mind whirled. Was this right, given the circumstances? According to the oaths she swore after accepting the Staff, there was never adequate reason to play with time. Yet, she couldn't help but think back to when she stopped time to save Sailoruranus and Sailorneptune's lives. She had felt justified doing what she did, because she was saving the lives of the ones who would keep the future safe. 

"You must sleep, Setsuna," Usagi gently said then, seeing the indecision on her face. 

Setsuna shook her head. "I will wait at the Gates." 

"The Gates are inaccessible here at the moment," Usagi said. "The links between here and there are severed until this planet in this time is ready. That is why you could never determine how the End would come about, or the aftermath. It is impossible to view." 

Setsuna looked at Usagi sharply. "How did you know that?" 

She shrugged like it wasn't important. "Go sleep, Setsuna." 

The Keeper of Time suddenly felt drained, as if simply mentioning the word 'sleep' triggered something. Wearily she nodded and moved down the path Haruka and Michiru had taken, knowing that, somehow, Usagi had done this to her. 

The new queen cradled her growing stomach. "Be safe, Endymion. Come back and help me cope with everything that's going to happen." 

************************************ 

Just before Haruka fell asleep on the strangely comfortable padded crystal slabs, she looked across at Michiru. She was deeply asleep, so deep that Haruka had to watch carefully to see her lover's chest rise and fall. Haruka stared at her for long moments, until sleep dulled her mind and swept her away. Her last conscious thought was the certainty that she wouldn't be there when Michiru woke. 

************************************* 

She waited until she was sure the last few souls on the planet were fast asleep before she appeared. She already had one of her prizes, and now it was time to claim the last. With these two in hand, the others would bow before her. There would be no way to alter the future. She could have easily taken the one she sought from her own time, but there was another reason why she ventured from her conquered land. She was playing the part of bait. 

The staccato rhythm of her boots on the crystal floors echoed around her as she approached the rooms where she would find the sleeping senshi of this time. As she walked, she again thought of how she would use the Sailorsaturn she had captured against these fools. She permitted herself a low chuckle as she thought of the girl, locked away and screaming for mercy, no doubt. She had taken steps to ensure that the captured senshi wouldn't think of escaping anytime soon. 

She turned her head, glancing from side to side as she walked, and sending her black hair swinging. She had let it grow out from the time she had fought on the side of good, simply because she wanted a change. She glanced behind her. Would she take the bait? 

Methodically, she searched the rooms on this, the highest level of the palace. Minako and Rei. Ami and Makoto. Setsuna. Usagi. She paused outside Usagi's room, her face twisted in fury. If she killed the queen now, she would already be ruler in the future. However, though her power was immense, she still had yet to master the flow of Time. She could affect only one person here, the one person she sought. Still furious at the ultimate solution to the battle she waged being out of her grasp, she stalked onward down the corridor. 

She stopped at the next door. Michiru. And Haruka. The pair was deep asleep on their backs, their faces almost a mirror of each other as they slept. Smiling, she entered the room and moved around the crystal slabs that they slept upon until she stood next to Haruka. These two caused her no end of trouble in her time, always eluding even her best-laid traps to capture and kill them once and for all. But, it was no matter; the queen thought them dead anyway, and that worked just as well. 

Bending over the sleeping blonde, she stretched her hands over Haruka and concentrated. Darkness welled from deep within, spilling out onto Haruka and rendering her immobile. Haruka's eyes shot open then, looking first startled, then furious as she struggled to move. Her eyes caught sight of who held her, and Haruka paused. She tried to talk, but the darkness muffled her words as well. Haruka settled on a cold, furious glare as she thrashed within the darkness. Smiling at the blonde's futile efforts, she gathered Haruka up in her arms. Any moment now… 

She was not disappointed. "Put her down, Sailorsaturn," a voice ordered. "She isn't yours." 

Sailorsaturn turned. "She is mine, Hoshi, and you know that. Your mother sent you here to protect them, didn't she? It doesn't look like you've done a very good job," she commented with a sly smile. "What will you tell Chibiusa now?" 

"Don't call Mother that, Sailorsaturn. You lost your right to call her that when you made the choice to become our enemy," Hoshi spat. "You were once her friend." 

"Once. No longer." Sailorsaturn turned away from the glaring redhead and threw a free hand out. A portal opened before her. In her arms, Haruka tossed her head from side to side, frantically trying to free herself from the trap. 

"Dispel!" Hoshi shrieked, throwing her hands out at the portal in desperation. 

The portal remained. Sailorsaturn laughed. "I'm disappointed, Hoshi. You used to be capable of so much more. Is it because I hold the ginzuishou that you're reduced to such tricks?" Then, Sailorsaturn looked at her shrewdly. "Or is it because you're trying to mask who you really are, I wonder?" 

Hoshi stilled. "How could you have known? Mother suspects…but I never told her…" 

Laughing, Sailorsaturn said, "I didn't, but you just confirmed it for me! But, I have already taken you into consideration for my plans…you will never see your mother, never see your future again, Hoshi." Calmly, Sailorsaturn turned from the portal. Tendrils of dark energy formed around her, reaching out for Hoshi. 

"No…! You can't trap me here!" Hoshi exclaimed, throwing up her hands as a silvery dome appeared around her. The tendrils ignored the shield. Gaping, she reached up a hand. Power of her own formed around her hand in a silvery globe, but the tendrils reached her before she could act. A bright flash of light and a dull boom resounded around the room. When her vision cleared, Sailorsaturn saw Hoshi crumpled on the floor. 

"You didn't use your full power. Why?" Sailorsaturn asked of the unmoving form. "Could it be that you still are reluctant to fight me because of who I once was?" She laughed. "Weak, to the end. You cannot stop me now, Hoshi. Not if you're marooned here!" Still laughing, she took the weakly thrashing Haruka into the portal. Haruka threw her head up and stared at Michiru before the portal whisked them away. 

Just before she was totally gone from their time, Sailorsaturn took a brief trip out above the planet. With her back to the planet in upheaval, she faced the silent black orb that hung there in space. Maintaining this object drained her somewhat, and as its usefulness had worn out, she saw no reason for it to remain. It had effectively frozen the planet (though she still cursed Sailormoon for saving that group of humans, however small and insignificant the amount was), and keeping it around would do nothing more than tap her reserves. 

She willed herself closer, the unmoving form of Haruka still in her arms. The object was immense, but as Sailorsaturn appeared on its surface, she lay Haruka on the hard black obsidian surface and knelt. With both her palms flat against the icy cold surface, she bowed her head and concentrated. Almost as soon as she did this, the ground beneath her feet shivered almost imperceptibly. The tremors grew in intensity until it was difficult to remain on her feet. Taking Haruka back, she opened another vortex, this one breaching Time itself, and took her prize back to her time. 

Slowly, ever so slowly, the orb started shrinking… 

************************************** 

Hoshi groaned as she sat up. Her head ached worse than anything she had felt before, and it took her a few muddled looks around before she remembered what had transpired. Frantically, she reached deep inside for the core of power that marked her who she really was, and found it…blocked. She could not use power. Could not traverse Time. Could not return to her place in the future. With a mere gesture, the Sailorsaturn of her time had effectively stranded her where she would cause the least amount of trouble. She moaned low in her throat at her plight, and at how easily she had been caught. Hadn't her mother explained to her repeatedly how dangerous Sailorsaturn had become? And she had disregarded all of her cautions, arrogantly trusting in her own power to save her. In the end it hadn't been her power that had failed her, but herself. Had she struck when she had the chance… 

Hoshi shook her head. She could think on this at another time; right now, she had to decide what to do. Slowly, with help from one of the walls, she unsteadily got to her feet. Glancing at the bed, she saw Michiru still asleep, looking strangely alone on the crystal slab meant for two. Hoshi felt a brief pang of sympathy for the aqua-haired woman, but brief was all it was. Of all the senshi in the future, Hoshi trusted this pair the least. How dedicated could they be to the queen if they escaped out on their own when the fighting got too intense? 

She assessed her situation then. They – all of the senshi – were deep asleep while the planet righted itself on its own accord. Nothing short of strong, concentrated power would wake them, as Sailorsaturn demonstrated earlier. And Hoshi was powerless. Would she be forced to wait indefinitely for the senshi to reawaken, wait all alone for untold years? The thought filled her with despair, but it seemed like the only choice open to her. Despondently, she left Michiru's room, and headed for the gardens. 

Hoshi gaped out one of the crystal windows in the garden. There was no snow. Crystal buildings caught the rays of the bright sun overhead and reflected them in brilliant rainbows of color. She saw grass growing on the rocky ridges that had sprung up around the city, in small patches, but growing nonetheless. It was not a city in the grips of unnatural winter it had been before. It was not the war-ravaged land she had left behind. This was Crystal Tokyo as it had been, before her time. Tears sprang unbidden to her eyes as she stared wonderingly up at a brilliant blue sky. She had been born into a world that had known nothing but war. She had grown up, not around other children her age playing outdoors, but inside the dim corridors of the Palace learning her history. The history she was viewing this same moment. 

It was a matter of several minutes before coherant thought found Hoshi again. Still staring wonderingly at the beautiful panorama spread out below her, her mind worked furiously at digesting what she was seeing. Sailorsaturn had messed up, somehow. Instead of marooning her, awake, for a matter of years, somehow Hoshi had remained asleep just as the senshi of this time had. This realization had two sides; on one hand, she wouldn't have to endure the hardships of remaining awake waiting for the others to wake themselves, but on the other, Sailorsaturn had had an unknown length of time to plan and strategize while she slept. For all she knew, when she found her way back to her time, she would find, not her mother, but Sailorsaturn the unquestioned ruler of all. This thought chilled her, but she forced it away. Even if this were so, she now had a way back to the future when the senshi of this time woke. And she would end the life of Sailorsaturn by her own hand, despite what her Mother wanted. 

************************************ 

Usagi stretched and woke, feeling momentarily disoriented as she saw, not the familiar walls of her own room, but walls of brightly-glittering crystal. She sat up at once, panic-stricken, as thoughts of being kidnapped—or worse—flitted through her mind. But even as she did so and looked down at herself, the realization of what had happened hit her, causing her to tear up. She had been weak; the vast majority of the planet had died because she hadn't been strong enough to save them. How could she go on with that weighing on her conscience? 

This line of thought persisted only briefly, for even as she thought that, she steeled herself with the thought that she was queen. She had to lead the ones that had survived to a time of peace, with the help of her friends. 

Her friends… 

With a pang of grief, she remembered in particular the outers that had straggled in at last from the cold outside. She hadn't had a clue of what had been going on in their lives until that brief but powerful moment she had accepted the crown on her head. In that moment, she learned of the Trials, tasks given to the outer senshi to prove to the testers their worth. She was even given knowledge of the purpose of the Trials, however with the condition that she would not pass this on. The future queen (she was never told who the future queen was) looked for help in them, but her subjects had grown suspicious and suspecting of anybody other than themselves due to their battle with Sailorsaturn. As a compromise, she had proposed the Trials to test a small group of the senshi, one at a time, and prove their capacity to help. The people approved, and the queen delegated this task to her daughter. Her daughter orchestrated the Trials, however never kept the queen posted on the successes and failures. Two of the senshi tested failed. The queen never found out. 

But now, in Usagi's time, they were short, not only Sailorsaturn who had been snatched by the evil Sailorsaturn of the future, but also Sailoruranus. Michiru would be devastated. Usagi prayed that whoever came to claim Sailoruranus would arrive after the two woke, so they could at least spend some time together. 

Slowly, she pulled herself off of the flat crystal slab she rested upon, knowing that as soon as she stepped through the door of her room, she would be in charge of the remaining people—refugees of the world they had left behind. Though daunted by the burden on her shoulders, she nevertheless passed unhesitatingly through the door. She wanted some time to assess the new land around them before pressing matters were thrust upon her. 

************************************* 

Michiru woke with a start, feeling as if something were out of place. She stared hard at the glowing ceiling above her, ordering her scattered thoughts before she moved. Everything that had happened caught up with her then, and she immediately turned her head to look for Haruka and reassurance. She found neither; the crystal bed was vacant. 

In that instant, through some brief flash of insight brought on by the circumstances, she knew what was out of place. She no longer felt the ever-present comfort of the other's lifeforce in the deep recesses of her mind. Haruka was gone. She went very still inside at this revelation, and it was the span of several heartbeats before the meaning hit home. 

> —thump—   
(…her trial…)   
—thump—   
(…Haruka is gone…)   
—thump—   
(…I am alone…)   
—thump— 

There were no tears. No hysterics. No emotions. She was dead inside. Resolutely, she rose from the crystal bed, only vaguely aware that sometime during her sleep she had acquired a flowing aquamarine dress. Passing through the door without so much as a cursory glance around the room, she turned down the hallway and, glancing into the rooms she passed, sought out Setsuna. 

The Keeper of Time was just waking when Michiru strode in. Rubbing the remnants of sleep from her eyes, Setsuna regarded Michiru with some degree of startlement. "What is it?" she asked. 

"Haruka is gone," she said flatly. 

"Perhaps she woke before you and is wandering the—" 

"No," Michiru interjected sharply. "She is gone. I don't feel her presence." Michiru didn't mention the Trials—not that she had to. 

Setsuna searched for words of comfort, but found whatever she came up with severely lacking. She recalled then Usagi's words to her before she slept, about how Sailorsaturn had been abducted by the Sailorsaturn of the future. Hotaru had also failed her Trial, and was taken from them. "Gone…from this Time, maybe," Setsuna mused aloud. 

Michiru looked at Setsuna closely. "What?" she asked warily. 

"Hotaru is gone as well. Usagi told me after you departed," Setsuna replied. 

The two stood there in silence for a long moment, thinking their own private thoughts as they looked at each other. Finally, though, Setsuna said softly, "We are the only two outers remaining. We have to protect the Queen. Neo-Queen Serenity. You know this." 

"I do," Michiru said with a short nod. "I won't forget." 

Setsuna's heart ached for the aqua-haired woman, but lacked the words to comfort her. Instead, she suggested the next best thing. "We should go find Usagi. No doubt she's already awake." When Michiru nodded her agreement, Setsuna led the way from her room. 

Setsuna glanced at Michiru as they walked, but her face never altered. It was still the calm, unruffled, unreadable face Setsuna noticed when she had entered. Setsuna knew she was grieving deeply somewhere inside, but the emotionless eyse told just how deep the feeling—any feeling—was buried. 

************************************ 

"She's changed," Rei said abruptly. Minako, who had only just woken up, looked up from rubbing her eyes, startled. 

"How do you know?" she asked. "We haven't even seen her yet." 

Rei shrugged. "You saw how she acted when we finally arrived at the palace. She looked…lost. Usagi wasn't herself," she said. 

"She _is_ the Queen now," Minako said gently. "You knew she had to grow up eventually—we all did. It just…happened all at once." The blonde watched Rei for a moment to see if her words were having an impact. When she realized they weren't sinking in, she fell silent. She knew Rei would eventually accept the fact that Usagi wasn't the klutz they knew anymore, but until then… 

Rei glowered at Minako. "How can you be taking this so calmly?" 

Minako just laughed and shook her head. 

******************************** 

Michiru honestly couldn't remember passing through so many doors and corridors, and was secretly glad Setsuna was guiding her. Without warning, another memory surfaced lazily in her mind. 

> (…do you remember when you first met?…) 

She tossed her head uneasily. No. And she didn't want to. Why was she all of a sudden remembering these memories? 

> (…you weren't very old…perhaps twelve or thirteen…but Haruka snuck away from her parents during a visit to your parents…she found you practicing…) 

Suddenly, she _did_ remember. She remembered it like it were yesterday—when it had been a thousand years. 

> _She loved practicing in the round auditorium-like room with the rows of sea-green marble benches. She loved the way the empty benches swept upwards around the stage on all sides. She loved the noise the water made as it flowed down the curved walls in the silence, loved the perfume of the flowers that grew. She never practiced with people around her, for she valued the time she spent alone. Her parents just didn't understand that she much preferred being left alone to her own devices than having her life run by others. _
> 
> She was playing, lost in the music, lost in the world of her mind. She drew out the last note, remotely satisfied at the way she had played, then looked up and locked eyes with a gangly girl standing at the top of the gently sloping floor. Her short blonde hair was shaggy and unkept, and she was dressed in a cobalt blue robe that hung oddly on the youth's bony arms and legs. Still, the girl radiated an air of confidence and grace, Michiru could tell from where she stood staring. The two regarded each other. 
> 
> She was startled. Unknowingly, her violin slipped from her fingers and fell with a loud clatter that seemed to break the spell. The girl bounded down the stairs leading down with amazing speed and agility, until she came to a standstill before Michiru. 
> 
> "You should be more careful," the girl chided sternly, stooping down and retrieving the instrument. 
> 
> Michiru accepted the violin after recovering her lost dignity, and said aloofly, "You shouldn't be here. If my parents found a stranger here with the Princess_ of _Neptune_…" She deliberately left the threat unfinished after stressing who it was this impertinant girl had stumbled upon. _
> 
> The girl sized Michiru up, as the aqua-haired girl stood looking at her disapprovingly. Then, with a sweeping bow and an impish smile, she had said, "Then I am in the right place. The Princess of Uranus greets the Princess of Neptune…" 

Michiru blinked rapidly as the walls of the crystal palace returned to view, Setsuna walking just ahead. She almost fancied she could hear the dull boom of the present catching up with her, the dull boom of a prison door shutting. She surreptuously scrubbed sudden wetness from her eyes. She must guard the Queen. 

> (…do you remember…) 

Michiru stopped her mind before it could start again, and forced it down to where her feelings were caught. She didn't understand what was going on in her mind, but it was just making things worse. 

Thankfully, they entered the gardens then, and her mind was blissfully diverted. Neo-Queen Serenity stood on the same rise they had found her on initially, however she was turned away from the clear crystal window and was talking earnestly with a strange woman. Dressed in snow-white robes accented with silver trim, she stood shorter than Serenity, yet carried herself with an air of defiance. Her single red ponytail jerked as she shook her head slowly to what Serenity was saying. Michiru looked beyond the strange pair for a moment, and saw clear, blue sky through the window. She never thought she'd be so grateful to see such a mundane sight. 

"You…!" Setsuna exclaimed in some startlement, jerking Michiru back to what was going on. 

The two broke off their conversation and regarded the newcomers carefully. Serenity seemed to regard Michiru in particular, and it was all she could do not to squirm under the clear blue eyes that seemed to peel her skin away and see what was beneath. 

The girl inclined her head in greeting to Setsuna, who stared stonily back. "Hello, Keeper of Time," she said, total unconcern in her voice. 

The group was silent as they sized each other up. "This is Hoshi," Serenity said at last, clearly uncomfortable with the silence. "Do you know her already?" 

"We've met," Setsuna replied shortly, ignoring their pleasantries. "What are you doing here?" 

Hoshi shook her head. "I will answer your question when everyone else is present. I don't want to have to repeat myself several times." 

"Setsuna, how do you know her?" Michiru asked then, looking from Setsuna to Hoshi and back again. 

Before Setsuna could respond, Serenity firmly interjected, "We will wait in the throne room. The others will be awake shortly." Michiru looked about to argue, but Serenity's calm blue stare caused her to nod reluctantly. Serenity breathed an inward sigh of relief—when Michiru discovered the role Hoshi played in their Trials, she wanted as many people there to restrain the woman as possible. 

Surprisingly enough, the four inner senshi were just entering as Serenity breezed through the tall doorway, flanked by Setsuna and Michiru, and trailed by Hoshi. They looked respectfully, if a little uneasily, at Serenity, who calmly and aloofly settled herself on one of the three thrones placed on the low dais. "Are you alright, Usagi?" Rei asked at last, looking at her anxiously. 

"Yes, Rei," Serenity said with a smile and a fair degree of reassurance. 

"And Mamoru?" Makoto pressed. "Has he returned?" 

Serenity looked away, and the four senshi looked at each other sorrowfully. "Not…as yet, Makoto. He will return, however," Serenity quietly replied at last. When the silence reached an uncomfortable level, Serenity roused herself and said, "I think Hoshi has a story to tell, and you would do well to listen." The four inner senshi exchanged uncertain looks, but nevertheless nodded for the redhead to continue. 

"Before I tell my story, I think Sailorneptune and Sailorpluto should tell theirs," Hoshi said. "What has befallen them before your world was destroyed plays a part in why I'm here." 

Setsuna looked at Michiru, who nodded for Setsuna to do the honors. Briefly, in as few words as possible, she told of their Trials, how two had passed and two had failed. She told of discovering that Hoshi had been the one giving the Trials during hers. Michiru stiffened at this, staring at Hoshi in open anger. When Setsuna had finished, the four inners looked shocked and confused, turning to Hoshi for answers. 

"I come from the future," Hoshi said into the silence. "I am Usagi's daughter—the Usagi of my time." She looked pointedly at Serenity's round stomach. 

"Chibi-usa?" Ami asked. "Your mother is Chibi-usa?" 

Hoshi nodded. "She has done away with that nickname of hers, but she is—was—Chibi-usa. Crystal Tokyo is under seige by an enemy we can't see to fight. They fight from afar, using magic to strike at us from the skies. The people have taken shelter underground, but still the attacks come, slowly destroying everything still standing above ground. We are under attack—by Sailorsaturn." Here Hoshi paused as the senshi gasped in astonishment, then relentlessly continued, raising her voice to be heard above them as they tried to talk at once. "The senshi of my time are dead, save Sailorneptune and Sailoruranus who have been missing for countless days. My mother and I…we assume the worst. 

"At the very beginning of the attacks, when we didn't know the identity of the one we fought against, Sailorsaturn revealed herself and raided the palace. That assault was our costliest, and ruined our chances at fighting back. In her time inside the palace, Sailorsaturn managed to kill both my father, Helios, and my grandmother…your Usagi. The senshi guarding my grandmother were all badly wounded, allowing Sailorsaturn to gain possession of the ginzuishou. Our people lost hope after this raid. My mother ascended the throne in my grandmother's place and proposed that we bring in help from other times. Sailorpluto counseled against this, but she was killed shortly after, and her loss spurred the people to agree, on the condition that we test the ones who whould help. The loss of Sailorsaturn to the darkness made them suspicious of even their own senshi." Here Hoshi paused to collect herself. She had almost lost herself to the grief she had felt when her father had been killed. She had been there when he had died. She remembered the look of determination Helios had worn until the death, remembered Sailorsaturn laughing cruelly as she sliced him in half. Unconsciously, she clenched her fists at her side. 

The others were listening to her tale in horrific fascination, and waited for her to continue. "So, I sent the call through time. Only one responded, that of Sailorneptune," Hoshi continued, glancing at Michiru who unconsciously rubbed at her scarred forehead. Her Trial had almost cost her her life. "She passed, and it opened the way to the minds of the other outers. Sailorpluto passed as well, but Sailoruranus and the Sailorsaturn of your time failed. I…couldn't tell Mother because she had been resting all her hopes on the help of you four. But then Mother discovered that your Sailorsaturn was caving and beginning to turn evil, so she sent me back to salvage things. I was almost too late, but I was in time to save your lives. 

"The Sailorsaturn of my time felt me go back in time and followed me. She snatched your Sailorsaturn before I could react. I swore to myself that I would stop her the next time, but…" Here, she paused again and looked Michiru up and down. "…but she trapped me here, in this time, and made off with Sailoruranus as well." 

Michiru stiffened. 

> (…Haruka is gone…)   
(…I am alone…)   
(…NO!…) 

She wasn't aware she had cried this last thought aloud until she found herself grappling with the inner senshi in an attempt to lunge at Hoshi. "I don't believe you!" she hissed, making one last futile attempt against the powerful Makoto. "How can you prove this? For all we know, it could be _you_ that has Haruka!" 

Hoshi's eyes blazed at this accusation Michiru had flung at her. 

"You gave us those Trials. You planted doubt of ourselves in our minds! And now you expect me—us!—to follow you blindly, when it might be that _you_ are the one holding Haruka!" Michiru continued relentlessly. Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to cry. She glared at Hoshi. "Well?" she demanded. 

"I never trusted you, Sailorneptune," Hoshi said, her voice low in anger. "Ever since you and your precious Sailoruranus left the Palace to go on your own against Sailorsaturn and turned your backs on your duty, I distrusted you. Your loyalties are questionable. You should have protected the Queen at all costs, but instead, you left the Palace right when the attacks started, left both the Palace and the Queen defenseless. Your presence during the raid might have made all the difference!" Hoshi voice rose steadily as she spoke, until she was all but yelling at the aqua-haired woman, who glared defiantly back. Realizing she had an audience, Hoshi visibly collected herself. "I have nothing to do with Sailoruranus' disappearance," she said when she had achieved some semblance of calmness. "But I can help you get her back. The only way you can, is to travel to the future and help us. We desperately need your help—all of you, now that your outers are divided. Please…will you help?" This last statement was directed at Serenity, who had watched and listened carefully. 

"Why the outers only?" Minako spoke up. "Why not us too?" 

Hoshi looked visibly uncomfortable. "The inners were the first senshi to fall. Don't take this the wrong way, but we determined early on that the outers ability to work singly was more powerful than the inners dependance on attacking as a group." 

"Oh," Minako said faintly, no doubt imagining how she might have died. The other inners wore similar sick looks, and looked at anything but each other. 

"I…want to help, but what about this time? What about the fact that Mamoru is still missing? What about my people? I should be here to guide them…" Serenity said, looking more lost than she had at any other time since they had awakened. "I can only imagine how your mother is suffering, knowing that the friends she loved were all dead, knowing that her husband and mother were also dead, and then sending her only living flesh and blood away…I want to help…desperately." Serenity sighed then. "But what about here and now? I just don't know what to do…" 

Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako saw then that the Usagi they knew was still alive and well underneath the thin shell that was their Queen. Right now, Usagi was lost in a world she hadn't the faintest idea of how to deal with—and was expected to rule it. They gathered around Serenity and hugged her for still being Usagi, hugged each other for still being alive. Serenity smiled the old Usagi smile they knew and loved, the smile that reassured everyone that everything was going to be fine, then pulled away from the hug gently. "Setsuna? What should we do?" she asked, turning her eyes on Setsuna. "The Timestream is under your rule. If I said we were going to help them, would you agree to bring us to the future?" 

Setsuna's reply was a long time in coming, mostly due to the fact that she had been asking herself this very same question since Hoshi's plea. 

"I don't like it," Michiru spoke up then, giving Setsuna time to debate with herself. 

"Do you want to get Sailoruranus back?" Hoshi asked mildly. Michiru frowned, but lapsed into silence. 

Serenity saw the growing animosity between Hoshi and Michiru, saw the obvious struggle Setsuna was having with herself, and did the wisest thing she could think of. Before Michiru could start in again on Hoshi, she rose from her throne and grabbed everyone's attention. "Perhaps we should make this decision at another time," she said firmly. 

"But Queen Serenity, if we don't act now—" Hoshi began, but Serenity interjected. 

"The problem can wait," she said. "If I decide in favor, it is just a matter of going to the correct time, right?" 

"It isn't that simple. It's more of a rough guess, and even then you may be years off," Hoshi protested. 

Serenity looked to Setsuna for confirmation, and the Keeper of Time nodded slightly in agreement. 

"But we must act now!" Hoshi went on, her voice rising and filled with emotion. "You couldn't begin to imagine—" 

"Our Queen has made her decision," Michiru broke in cooly, smiling an equally cool smile. To be able to say this to Hoshi gave her a sense of pleasure. "You will respect it as you would a decision from your own Queen." 

It was Hoshi's turn to scowl, but, aware she had overstepped certain boundaries, wisely fell silent. 

"I must see to my people," Serenity said then, with a finality that wasn't to be argued. Nobody knew what to say to the other as Serenity left the room. Setsuna, acting on a subtle gesture by the Queen followed her out. Hoshi made a noise in her throat that sounded half like a snort of derision and half like the cry of a wounded animal, and left all at once through a smaller door. 

Michiru looked briefly at the four inners still clustered together and felt something needed to be said. "I trust you will protect the Queen," she said shortly, not a question or a request but a statement of fact. She didn't say who from, but she had half a mind to name Hoshi. Let them name their own names. 

"Of course," Rei said irritably. "How could we do otherwise?" 

Michiru hesitated before speaking, unwilling to bring to light the truth of the situation. "Things will be different now. Our roles will change," she said, choosing her words carefully. "Usagi won't look at us the same." 

"What do you mean?" Minako questioned. 

"Just this: why did she ask for Setsuna's company just now and not yours?" Michiru asked bluntly. "She will come to rely on us more for helping with the kingdom. You will become her guardians—much like we were, once." Michiru almost choked on the last phrase as thoughts of fighting beside Haruka assaulted her. But there it was, the bitter truth. 

She watched as fearful comprehension dawned on their faces as they pondered this new line of thought. "Don't be afraid," Michiru said at last. "It's all part of our Destiny; accept it, as Setsuna and I already have." With this, she started to leave. 

Ami caught her arm as Michiru passed. Compassion shone in the eyes of the blue-haired woman as she said, "Michiru, about Haruka…" 

"Don't talk to me about Haruka," Michiru said lowly, jerking her arm away. "You couldn't understand…don't even try." She wheeled abruptly and stalked out of the room. 

"Was what she said true?" Makoto asked into the silence Michiru left in her wake. 

"Usagi wouldn't forget us," Minako said with confidence. "We all know that." 

"Michiru didn't say anything about her forgetting us," Ami said slowly. "Just that we become her protectors like they were when we fought the Death Busters and Chaos." 

They were silent. Would their Destiny lead them to become as calloused and distant as the outers had been during those troubled times? The thought was chilling. 

"What do we believe?" Rei asked then. "About Hoshi, that is. Michiru had a point when she said that none of us know what role she played in Haruka's abduction." 

"We believe what Serenity believes, Rei," Minako said. "As long as Hoshi doesn't threaten Serenity, we have no reason to distrust her as Michiru does." 

"But she _was_ ther for Haruka's abduction. She doesn't deny it," Makoto said slowly. "Michiru has reason to distrust her." 

They met eyes then, united by one question. _Do we?_

******************************** 

Serenity walked in silence for a time, Setsuna on her right. She thought about nothing in particular as they walked, because she needed this time to order her scattered thoughts. She knew what she was about to ask was unfair for the Keeper of Time, but it had to be asked. "What do I do?" 

"I can't tell you what to do," Setsuna responded. "You must decide." 

"This lies in your field, Setsuna. I know nothing of the workings of Time. All I know comes from you, and I remember you saying on many occasions that you can't mess around with it," Serenity said, looking sideways at Setsuna. "Without punishment." 

Setsuna sighed quietly to herself. "By being put into this situation, I have to make a decision," she responded. "Either I advise against traversing time and uphold everything I had been taught while giving up on Haruka and Hotaru, or I agree and risk being punished." 

"Would you really be punished, given the circumstances?" Serenity asked gently. 

Setsuna was silent for a moment as the pair entered the gardens. "I don't think so," she said at last. "The Sailorsaturn of the future is threatening the Timestream, if Hoshi is to be believed. I believe this is grounds to investigate." 

"And we can rescue Haruka and Hotaru while—" 

"No," Setsuna interrupted Serenity sharply. When Serenity looked at her in some confusion, Setsuna continued, "If we go, our objective would be to end the threat. Haruka and Hotaru are of no consequence. If we came across them we may rescue them, but we can't seek them out. If they live." It made Setsuna sick to say this, but it was the truth. The only way they could go to the future was if they kept their priorities straight. If they went solely as a rescue attempt, their reason for traversing time wouldn't be justified. 

Serenity looked pained at this frank explanation. "We can't just give up on them," she said anxiously. "It can't be wrong to want to save them!" 

"The rules of Time are strict, Serenity. I cannot just turn my back on what I was taught to save friends. Being the Keeper of Time is an enormous responsibility, and the punishment for irresponsibility is swift and harsh," Setsuna said grimly. She paused, then added, "And it may very well be that there's nothing to save. You heard Hoshi say that the Sailorsaturn of her time killed all her senshi without a thought." 

Serenity shuddered; she couldn't help it. They stood before one of the windows overlooking the city, the buildings glittering harshly in the sunlight. Nothing stirred. "Where is everyone?" Serenity asked all at once. "Shouldn't they be awake?" 

"You saved them by making them sleep. You must wake them," Setsuna said. 

Serenity was silent for long moments, and Setsuna knew intuitively that she was in the process of making an important decision. Serenity's face was still and calm, and her blue eyes seemed fixed on a point somewhere in the city as she stood unmoving. Her hands were laid gently on her growing stomach, her arms curled protectively around it. Finally, just as Setsuna was about to question the Queen, Serenity turned abruptly away. "I cannot wake them yet. Not until I resolve the problems at hand. It would be unfair to them if they did not have my undivided attention," she said. The way she looked, however, told Setsuna that there was more that the Queen wasn't telling her. "You may go," she continued, her voice sounding suddenly weary. "I have…much to think about." 

"Yes," Setsuna said at once, without offense. She turned and made her way out of the gardens, leaving Serenity to stare wistfully out at the city. 

Their first day awake in a new world was spent avoiding each other. Nobody was sure of what to say to the other, and so they kept to themselves. 

The inners stuck together. The four of them roamed the palace to familiarize themselves with the layout. From the gardens at the very top to the catecombs that riddle the ground beneath, they traversed together, speculating on the purpose of some of the other rooms but otherwise subdued in their actions. They avoided talking about Hoshi. 

Setsuna visited the Gates, now that the pathways were open again. She didn't stay long, however, for the Gate was still and dark. This made her uneasy, but after she tried several times without success to make the Gate respond, she left. 

Hoshi wanted no contact with anyone, least of all Michiru. She was no different than her future self—untrustworthy. Hoshi stalked through the hallways thinking dark thoughts, as she unconsciously glowered at the walls. Her only hope to get help to the future (and to get herself rescued) rested on Serenity, but she knew Michiru's argument had set more than one to thinking. If Serenity denied her request, what then? She would be stranded here. And all because lovesick Michiru wanted someone to blame. Hoshi felt like screaming her frustrations. Damn that woman. 

Michiru was in her room. She lay on the crystal slab of a bed for long moments without moving, without thinking. Eventually, though, the mask she wore before the others wore off and her mind started churning again. Hoshi was responsible; she had to be. Her story of Sailorsaturn turning evil and killing the other senshi so effortlessly was nonsense. Sailorneptune and Sailoruranus fled for their lives? More nonsense. They weren't cowards. Serenity seemed to want to believe her, however, and her first duty was to her Queen. Somehow, she would have to stand with Hoshi if Serenity decided in her favor. She would always have her eye on the woman, however, and always be close enough to strike at the first sign of more betrayal and deception. 

Serenity was awake much longer than the rest. She watched as the sun slowly set, watched as the final rays stained the crystal buildings a fiery orange before the sky deepened into a dark purple. She watched as the stars came out, one by one, and were reflected against the perfect crystal city. As full night descended, it seemed to Serenity that, with the stars above her and the reflections below her, she was among them. She stood there wondering, not about who to favor in the decision she was being forced to make, but about whether her mother, the Queen of the Moon, had looked out from her own palace and found herself among the stars. 

****************************************** 

In the morning they all gathered in the throne room again. Nobody had summoned them; they just knew to be there. Silently, one by one or in pairs, they filed in, exchanged a few words of mundane conversation with Serenity, and stood uncomfortably before her. The inners were clustered together on Serenity's left, Hoshi on Serenity's right, and Michiru between them with her arms crossed and defensive stance. Setsuna was close to Serenity, the only one out of the group of eight who looked thoroughly calm and impassive. 

Serenity rose when everyone was present. "I have made my decision," she stated. The women before her stirred in anticipation. "I have decided that we will do all we can to help Hoshi." 

"Thank you, Serenity," Hoshi breathed in relief. 

Rei, Ami, Minako, and Makoto all exchanged looks, but otherwise nodded in acceptance. 

Michiru stiffened, and her distrustful eyes flicked over to Hoshi, but all she said was, "As you wish." 

"I have not wakened the people for this reason," Serenity went on. "It wouldn't be right to wake them and leave them just when they need me most." 

Setsuna, who had been waiting for the right moment to speak, stepped forward. "You are correct, Serenity. But you cannot leave the people frozen asleep either. What would happen to them if something happened to you?" Setsuna asked. When Serenity didn't respond right away, she went on. "You carry the future Queen after you in your stomach. Should anything happen to you, the future would be over. This is why you must stay behind, my Queen." 

"Stay behind?" Serenity repeated uncomprehendingly. "But I can't do that! If anything happened to you…if Saturn is as powerful as Hoshi says…if you…" Serenity trailed off, looking and sounding more like Usagi than the Queen she was. 

"It's the only way, Serenity," Setsuna said. "We must preserve the future. You must wake the people and rule while we are gone." 

Indecision shone in her blue eyes as she debated her choices. "Who would protect her?" Makoto demanded then. "Something may happen to her while we are away, and what then?" 

"What could happen on a dead planet?" Michiru spoke up wryly. "Setsuna is right. Serenity would be safer here." In her mind, Michiru added, _safer here than with Hoshi_. 

"Endymion would be awakened as well," Setsuna reminded gently. "He would protect the Queen." 

Serenity's eyes lit up then. Mamoru, Endymion, he was one and the same to the Queen. Still, she looked torn. "I can't just walk out on my duty…" 

"Your duty is to your people now, Usagi," Rei said then, unconsciously using the Queen's name. "You aren't Sailormoon any longer. You have to rely on us to fight. Don't worry; we'll come back to you." 

It was half a minute before Serenity responded slowly, "I will stay. But please, be safe." This last was said with such pleading and love that none of them could think of doing otherwise. 

"Will we be leaving now?" Hoshi asked, not keeping the eagerness entirely out of her voice. 

Setsuna turned expressionless eyes on Hoshi. "Yes," she said after a deliberate pause. Hoshi attempted to meet her stare for expressionless stare, but it was she who averted her eyes first. 

As the inner senshi clustered around Serenity, Setsuna drew Michiru aside. "We cannot go looking for Haruka or Hotaru," she said lowly. "You know that." 

"I do," Michiru replied with a short nod. "We go to stop Sailorsaturn. Not to rescue. But that doesn't mean we can't save them if we find them." 

"If." 

"Right." 

"You will be alright?" Serenity asked anxiously of the senshi clustered around her. 

"Relax, Usagi. I'll take care of them," Minako said with a wink and a victory sign. 

"We'll be alright, Usagi," Ami said with reassurance. The blue-haired woman radiated confidence, and it was hard not to believe her. 

"Try not to worry," Makoto said with a motherly smile. "You'll get wrinkles." This last made Serenity smile, if only a little. 

"Over here, everyone," Setsuna said loudly. The four inners started to follow. 

"Rei," Serenity said, calling the raven-haired woman. "Be careful." 

"I couldn't do otherwise. I have to come back to fix everything you screw up on," she said with mock sternness. "Watch yourself, Usagi." 

Serenity nodded in acknowledgement. "Will you do your best to make sure nobody's distrust turns into violence?" she asked. 

Rei nodded, a shadow passing over her face. "I will." No names were needed. 

"Alright." 

The two broke apart. Rei went to stand among the group of senshi. Serenity remained where she was. It was as if the two groups stood on opposite sides of a wide gulf. "Act as if I were there with you," Serenity said, addressing them all, silently pleading, _please don't kill her…_. 

They knew what it was she didn't say. After a moment's silence, Setsuna said, "Transform, everyone." 

They stood in silence for a moment, struck with a sense of déjà vu as they recalled the events that had taken place last time they transformed. The last time they fought, there was a world left to fight for. Finally though, Setsuna broke the silence. "Pluto Planet Power…Make-Up!" 

This roused the rest. 

"Mercury Crystal Power…" 

"Mars Crystal Power…" 

"Jupiter Crystal Power…" 

"Venus Crystal Power…" 

"MAKE-UP!" As always, the four inners transformed together. 

"Neptune Planet Power…Make-Up!" Michiru attempted to force herself not to listen for the transformation of Sailoruranus that wasn't coming. Still, the silence after she transformed was deep and unnatural. 

Sailorpluto, Time Staff in hand, stood in the middle of the rough circle and concentrated. The Garnet Orb glowed a deep reddish purple as the seconds ticked by, and the form of Sailorpluto grew blurry. The senshi felt a great pulling sensation as the throne room seemed to elongate, then flatten, then vanish altogether. After what seemed like an eternity or simply seconds, they were standing before a doorway. They walked on a smooth, black surface, and all around them, red swirled against a deep, fathomless black. 

"Hoshi, come here," Sailorpluto said. It wasn't a request. 

They all jumped at the sound of a voice here, but Hoshi came forward as she was told. "Yes?" 

"I need you to show me your time, as close to it as you can manage." Sailorpluto spoke in crisp, businesslike tones. 

Hoshi nodded and moved over to the open doorway. Hesitantly she reached out her hands and gingerly touched the surface. The Gate flashed wildly, but calmed after Sailorpluto merely touched it. Images flashed by almost too quickly to input, but eventually the images slowed, then stopped altogether. "Here," she said, speaking in something close to a whisper. Sailorpluto paled as she beheld the image captured within the Gate, but nodded. The others tried looking through as the other two had, but they saw nothing. 

"Step through," Sailorpluto commanded, stepping aside to let the others pass. Hoshi did as she was told immediately. The others watched as the Gate swallowed her up, then looked to each other to see who would be next. Sailormars followed closely behind Hoshi, and the other three inners followed more hesitantly than the bold priestess. 

Sailorneptune stepped in. Stepping through the Gate was like stepping forward into water, an icy cold water that seemed to permeate into her very being. Then, all at once, it was like fire burning through her so that she gasped aloud in pain. A crushing sensation. A weightlessness sensation. A sensation of no sound. No touch. No taste. No smell. Then, with the abruptness of slamming into a wall, she stepped out and onto solid ground. 

********************* 

Serenity watched the senshi go with a heavy heart. She still couldn't dispel the feeling that she was letting her dear friends march into their own deaths. But even as she thought this, she knew Setsuna was right. She rose from her throne, unconsciously cradling her stomach, and moved out of the throne room. Her first task? To wake the people. 

******************** 

A sharp sense of knowing jarred her body. She looked up. Sent her mind out over the land she had conquered. There were minds here that shouldn't be here. Minds that she thought she had killed long ago. And a mind that she had banished many, many years ago. 

Sailorsaturn bared her teeth in furious anger. _So…Hoshi has returned…_ she thought. _I should have killed her when I had the chance._ But then, unexpectedly, she began to laugh. She laughed for many minutes, until her side ached and her breath came fast. _Hoshi has brought me more senshi. I will kill them as well. Now she, and all the rest, will see that it is useless to fight me._

In the darkness behind her, a small girl with ragged, short, black hair whimpered. Whimpered, and half-laughed. 

********************************** 

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	7. Depth of Shadow

Crystal Trials - Depth of Shadow 

here we are, on the eve of destruction. This is it, folks, part one of two. The final part. I had originally decided not to post this until part two was done, but as I am now stuck on the final battle, I figured I had better post something before my rabid fans seek me out and strike me down. This is when most everything comes together. Plot twists abound. Are you ready? 

Main Characters 

Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto   
Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus   
Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn   
Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune   
Tsukino Usagi - Sailormoon / Neo-Queen Serenity   
Chiba Mamoru - King Endymion   
Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury   
Hino Rei - Sailormars   
Kino Makoto - Sailorjupiter   
Aino Minako - Sailorvenus 

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

************************************** 

Night descended on them with startling suddeness. Blackness such as they had never experienced before settled around them, the only light cast by the occasional red slashes of energy. The gnarled branches of the trees they weaved around seemed to reach out for them from the gloom, twisted arms with even more twisted bodies. The air was cold and clammy and clung to their skin with amazing tenacity. Pools of stagnant water hid beneath fallen leaves and small branches, sending the foot of an unwary senshi plunging into slimy water that chilled to the bone. 

Sailormars stumbled for what was perhaps the third time over a partially exposed root. "Can we stop?" she asked breathlessly. "We can't see anything!" She looked at the others for confirmation or some sort of support, but none of them would meet her eyes. They were too busy concentrating on keeping the gruelling pace they were travelling at, too busy _not_ thinking of what they had seen to take notice. 

"In a moment," Hoshi's voice floated from ahead. The only way the group knew they were heading in the right direction was that they could just barely glimpse Hoshi's pristine white robes. "There is a clearing ahead. A safe clearing." 

They lapsed into silence. This forest unnerved them. This _world_ unnerved them. They moved swiftly, not because Hoshi pushed them, but because they needed something to distract themselves from thinking about what they had seen. It was disbelief that pushed them. 

True to her word, Hoshi brought them to an abrupt halt a few minutes later. "We will sleep here," she said. The redhead knelt down then, hunched over a bundle of something at her feet. Within moments, a fire was burning merrily in the center of a clearing barely large enough for all of them. 

They all sank to the ground wearily, looking at each other's dark-circled eyes and tired faces. They were drained physically, and emotionally. Sailorneptune lay back on the ground and closed her eyes, attempting to make sense of what she had seen. Of what they all had seen. 

***************************** 

They had stepped out of the Gates and into a world of nightmares. The sky was an obsidian black, lit only by the occasional deadly strikes of red energy bolts. Crystal Tokyo was far in the distance, the palace a broken finger of crystal pointing accusingly at the sky. They had followed Hoshi unquestioningly, too daunted by what they saw to raise objections. 

Hoshi led them to Crystal Tokyo. Even now, Sailorneptune had difficulty remembering what had followed. She rememberd the heads clearest of all, row upon hideous row of heads lining the path they followed to the gate. Heads of common people, their faces frozen in expressions of horror. Sailorneptune remembered seeing the heads of the senshi placed strategically around the gate, remembered looking for her own and feeling oddly comforted when she couldn't find it. She remembered looking above the gate and seeing the head of a person she had only heard about. Hoshi's father, Helios, the golden horn dull and lifeless. She remembered all of this clearly, remembered Sailorvenus emptying her stomach. She didn't remember emptying her own. 

Hoshi ushered them forward somehow. The buildings were broken. The streets were uneven. She remembered a lone cat sitting on one corner, starved to the point of emanciation, and lapping listlessly at a dried pool of blood. And a child's doll, lying face down on one side of the street. 

The palace. Sailorneptune had a vague memory of fighting their way in, but vague was all it was. Through the hallways. Sailorpluto took over here, the only one of them with any semblance of real thought remaining. They ran through the one long corridor Sailorneptune remembered from the palace in their own time, until they entered the throne room. 

Sailorsaturn was here, standing and awaiting their arrival with a twisted smile on her face. Try as she might, Sailorneptune couldn't recall what she looked like. Vague impressions of long hair and a flowing dress... 

Sailorsaturn told them that it was useless and too late. Hoshi demanded to know where her mother was. Sailorneptune thought she had added her own demands to know where Haruka was, but she couldn't be sure. Sailorsaturn had laughed, had said that it would be better to see for themselves. 

They were pulled backward by an unseen force. Into a portal. Into unyielding darkness. Just before Sailorneptune had convinced herself that she was dead, Hoshi spoke, saying that they were in the depths of the palace. She created light. 

A cell was before them, where a crumpled form was hunched. Sailorneptune knew at once who it was, from the sugar-pink hair, as matted and dull as it was. At the light, the figure looked up, took them all in with wild eyes-and screamed. A horrible scream. The scream of one who has lost their mind and brought face-to-face with their worst nightmare. The Queen of Crystal Tokyo screamed. 

Sailorneptune had taken a step forward, but someone-Hoshi maybe-jerked her back roughly into another portal. They were outside again, among the heads. 

They ran. As one, they ran. 

The heads...the horrible, terrible, awful heads... 

***************************** 

"Sailorsaturn has won," Hoshi said brokenly. "She has taken the palace...she has won." 

"We haven't tried yet," Sailormars said quietly. "There is always a chance." 

There was another silence. No doubt they were all thinking about the heads. How could they win against her? "I've never seen anything like that..." Sailorvenus said in a hushed voice. "Never." 

Without opening her eyes, Sailorneptune said, "I have. Once." The others waited for her to elaborate, but she didn't. Instead, she opened her eyes briefly to exchange a look with Sailorpluto. She didn't meet her eyes. Sailorneptune knew she remembered. _They had arrived too late to save the last remaining city on Pluto. The demons-or whatever they had been; back then they didn't care about what nature of evil it was they fought-had laid waste to it. The bodies of the women and children were left to rot in the streets. The men they had eaten, and the only reason the three of them knew this was that they had found a campfire with the remains still smoldering above the coals. _

The three of them, Sailoruranus, Sailorneptune, and Sailorpluto, tracked down the things that had done this, tracked them all the way to the edge of their solar system. Had the things gone beyond they would have pursued, but as luck would have it they converged on the burned-out remains of some long-forgotten planet. That was where they fought. 

They fought in a blind fury, acting with one mind against the hundreds of beings there. When their strength had lagged, they only had to call up the image of the women and children cut down in the streets to find more strength to continue. 

It was a flawless victory. Every last one of the murderers were hunted down and eradicated. The battlefield looked like the city had, and the three of them looked at it with grim satisfaction. Sailorpluto especially; her family had been killed in that attack. Sailorneptune closed her eyes again. Yes, Sailorpluto remembered. 

"What do we do now?" Sailorjupiter asked then, breaking the silence. "We can't just cower out here in the woods. We're here for a reason." This last was said reluctantly, for she wasn't eager to go back to that palace. 

Sailormercury, who had been silent up until this moment, spoke without looking up from her computer. "We sleep. We're exhausted. We'll think better in the morning." 

"Wait..." Hoshi burst out all at once. When everyone looked to her, she lapsed into silence, looking ill-at-ease and embarassed. "Nevermind..." she said curtly, laying down with her back to the fire and staring out into the gloom. There was movement as the senshi found their spots, then deathly silence as they all sought sleep. Now wasn't the time to tell them who she was, Hoshi decided. Would it change anything? Probably not. So it didn't matter. But where would they go from here? 

She fell asleep replaying the scene in the cells, replaying over and over the vacant, wild look in her mother's eyes. 

***************************** 

The cloud dulling her mind began to lift. Where before she floated calmly, serenely, uncaringly, suddenly white flashes of pain began to register. The cloud dulling her mind became a storm of pain. But she would not cry out. Never would she give whoever held her that satisfaction. 

She hung in a state of semi-consciousness for an unknown length of time before she began to sense the world around her. It was cold, and the air was dry and stale. It was silent. It reminded her of a tomb. 

And then she opened her eyes. 

Through the haze of pain, she stared blearily around. She hung from shackles made of black crystal, more shackles around her ankles pinning her to a wall. The room she was in was circular and dim, but not so dark that she couldn't see the far wall. There was a pedastal in the center that drew her eyes and held them. Floating calmly above the smooth surface was the ginzuishou, pulsing red at regular intervals. After a moment's horrified study she realized it was pulsing in time to her own heart, and everytime it pulsed, her own heart felt pained and her chest tightened. 

She looked across the room then, and realized she wasn't entirely alone. One other hung against the far wall, head bowed and face shadowed. She knew instinctively who it was. "Michiru?" she rasped, her throat dry and painful. She swallowed a few times, and she tasted a lingering copper taste in her mouth-that of blood. She tried to think, tried to remember what had happened to her...and who she was. Finally it came to her, like a bubble surfacing lazily in her mind. Haruka. She was Haruka. Sailoruranus. Captive. Where was she now? "Michiru, is that you?" 

At first the figure didn't stir, and Haruka felt her heart leap into her throat. Surely she couldn't be... "Michiru!" 

Finally the figure stirred, groaning painfully. Her head came up gradually, but the dim light still concealed her face in shadow. "Haruka?" she asked in disbelief. She coughed painfully and then continued. "Is it really you? Truly? It's been so long...I've been here so long..." 

Haruka was amazed at how close to desperate tears her lover was. Something here wasn't right. "Yes, it's me," she said as soothingly as she could. "But what happened to you? How did Sailorsaturn catch you as well?" 

"You were there, Haruka," Michiru said in a troubled voice after she had regained her composure. Her tone sounded like she was frowning. "In the forest? I remember hearing you screaming my name just before I lost consciousness, and I thought they were killing you..." Michiru drew in a shaky breath and stopped. 

"Forest?" Haruka asked in confusion. This didn't make sense. The last thing she remembered was looking back at Michiru still asleep on the crystal bed. 

"You don't remember? Haruka, are you alright?" Michiru questioned. She sounded concerned. "Did you come after me? We swore that if one was caught, the other wouldn't sacrifice her life." Now she just sounded angry and frustrated, as if Haruka were responsible for ruining everything. 

Haruka shook her head, suddenly unsure. It was difficul to think, and the pulsing pain in her chest was speeding her breathing. "I don't know..." She couldn't recall ever feeling so unsure of herself, and certainly couldn't recall ever being at the mercy of her captor. 

As if summoned, her captor breezed through the door then. Haruka held her head up through sheer force of will as Sailorsaturn came to stand before her. It was like staring into Mistress 9's face all over again. "You're awake," she said, feigning surprise. "How do you feel?" 

"Go to hell," Haruka spat. Sailorsaturn started giggling madly then, sending shivers up Haruka's spine. "Where are we? How did you capture me?" she demanded, raising her voice to be heard above her laughter. 

The laughter quit all at once, as if someone had flipped a switch. Sailorsaturn looked confused for a moment, but then she noticed Michiru hanging on the wall as if for the first time. "So you two have been talking!" she crowed gleefully. "And now you're more confused than ever!" Her eyes glittered shrewdly as she drew close to Haruka. "I don't think I'm going to tell you. Figure it out for yourself." 

Sailorsaturn turned away then, and stood next to the ginzuishou. "The senshi are all connected to the ginzuishou. Even senshi not from the same Time have ties to the ginzuishou," she said conversationally, but the emphasis on the last part meant to carry some significance. "When the senshi are in dire trouble, a part of them returns to the ginzuishou and empowers it for Sailormoon's use. This is why Sailormoon becomes so much more powerful when the senshi are in danger. Do you understand?" She looked at Haruka eagerly, as if looking for approval. 

"You sound like Sailormercury," Haruka muttered instead. 

This set Sailorsaturn giggling again, and it was several moments before she could compose herself enough to say, "That's all part of the story. You'll see soon enough." 

As Haruka blinked in some confusion, Sailorsaturn turned her attention back to the crystal. "It works both ways, you know. If the ginzuishou is in dire trouble..." She reached her hand out and brushed the surface with a hand, and the ginzuishou flared red. 

Haruka's breath caught in her chest and burned, her heart beat painfully against her ribs, and her chest felt as if it were going to explode. She gasped in pain, but then clamped her mouth shut. She would not scream. Would not. Refused. But oh God if it didn't let up soon... 

Then it was gone. Haruka could breathe, and she drank in the dry air greedily as her racing heart slowed down. She saw Michiru's chest heave as she drew in breaths of her own. "If the ginzuishou is in dire trouble, the senshi suffer," Sailorsaturn finished softly. "Keep that in mind." 

"Why...?" Haruka finally managed. "Why keep us alive when you killed the other senshi?" 

A slow smile spread across Sailorsaturn's face. "Because I need something from you before I do." 

Haruka laughed weakly. "Kill me first," she said. "Because I'm not giving you anything." 

Sailorsaturn smiled indulgently. "You're still defiant because you're ignorant of what I'm capable of. You see..." She leaned in close to Haruka. Her breath smelled like Death. "I have the power of all the senshi I've killed. I have found ways of taking them for my own. This is how I could traverse Time like Sailorpluto can. This was how I could systematically kill off the senshi one by one, because Sailormercury's genius has replaced my own." She paused here and walked to the pedastal again, placing her hands on its smooth surface. "Every one of the senshi that has died has hung in this very room." Glittering points of light formed around Sailorsaturn, the colors of the senshi that had died. "With Sailormercury's brain, I have found the most pure essence of your power..." The points of light elongated, forming bands of glowing light. The bands turned golden, leaving only one circular stone set into the center. "...and have made it my own." Sailorsaturn laughed. 

It was their tiaras that hung silently in the air around Sailorsaturn. Sailorsaturn had taken them from all the senshi that had died. 

"And now...I want yours." 

Haruka refused. Michiru did as well, but in hushed tones. 

Sailorsaturn touched the ginzuishou. _clenched_ the ginzuishou. Haruka howled in pain. Michiru screamed until there was no breath left in her to scream with. To them, there was nothing else in the world but pain. 

Haruka saw Michiru's hand come up. She knew what she was planning on doing. (...fight it...)   
(...don't give in...)   
(...isn't worth it...) "Neptune...Planet...Power...Make-Up..." Michiru gasped. Haruka felt the pain stop instantly as Sailorsaturn's attention was drawn to Michiru. She hung weakly in her shackles, tears coursing down her cheeks. "Take it..." she whispered. "I've been here too long...I can't take it anymore...I'm sorry Haruka...please, take it..." she sobbed. 

"It'll all be over now," Sailorsaturn said soothingly. She reached up and slid the golden tiara with the aqua stone almost tenderly from her head. It raised from Sailorsaturn's hand and floated over to join the others, still in midair. 

Haruka's throat was frozen, and no amount of swallowing would free it. 

"You're free, Sailorneptune," Sailorsaturn said softly. She went back to the ginzuishou and touched it again. Haruka braced herself for the pain, but it never came. She almost wished it had. 

Michiru's body jerked as if electricity were coursing through her. A sickly red light lit up the wall she hung on as her body continued to thrash and jerk. Haruka watched, horrified beyond all comprehension, as blood began welling out of her nose. The corners of her mouth. The aqua eyes she loved so much. 

There was one relieved sigh and last mighty jerk, then once again she hung limp. Michiru's face was turned toward Haruka, the shadows finally chased away by the red light. The blood almost hid her features. 

"Kill me," Haruka whispered. "You bastard, KILL ME!" 

Sailorsaturn laughed. "Not yet," she said. "Even if you offer me your tiara, I can't kill you yet. Not when there's so many more to be caught yet." She turned to leave. Haruka's shrieks followed her as she vanished through the black doorway. 

A very small portion of Haruka's mind remained untouched by grief and rage throughout all this. Before despair sent Haruka spiralling into half-conscious blackness, it had analyzed and noted several things. 

When Sailorsaturn was demonstrating the ginzuishou's power, she had clutched her own chest briefly, as if it had pained her. 

A tenuous link still existed between Haruka and Michiru, a link that wanted to pull Haruka's mind northward... 

Hand-in-hand with this was something else. The still face of Michiru who still hung across from her, like some discarded doll, bore no scar on her forehead. 

All of this that analytical part of her mind noted, and never had a chance to relate to the rest of her mind before the blackness swept in. 

***************************** 

Sailorneptune jerked awake from deep sleep clutching her chest. It felt peculiarly tight, and her heart felt as if it were beating faster than normal. This wasn't surprising when she thought back to he dreams of a blood-red ginzuishou and a screaming Haruka. She turned over, away from the campfire's coals. 

It was hard to determine the time because of the weird darkness, but after Sailorneptune's eyes adjusted, she saw Hoshi still asleep. She froze then, her senses jangling alarmingly. Something about this wasn't right. Someone was watching. _Several_ someones. 

She rolled back over deliberately, turning back towards the dim campfire and seeking out Sailorpluto. She found her on her left, eyes open as well and staring at Sailorneptune. The guardian of Time nodded almost imperceptibly, indicating she knew. That was all well and good, but what did they do now? 

Charge. What else could they do? Perhaps they would take them by surprise. Sailorneptune closed her eyes deliberately, making a slow count to three, then tensing her legs in anticipation of leaping to her feet. Another slow three-count... 

Suddenly, she couldn't move. Any control over her muscles she had drained away. She tried to reopen her eyes and found them frozen shut. She tried to cry out a warning to the rest, but found her jaw clenched. 

"That's enough," an unfamiliar male voice declared loud enough for Sailorneptune to know the others were similarly frozen. 

"Sir, this one looks like Hoshi," a different voice said quietly. 

"And the rest wear the fuku of the senshi," a third said. He sounded doubtful, and a little frightened. 

"That's impossible and you know it," the first declared sharply. "The senshi are dead, as are the royal family, peace find their souls. These have to be imposters. They'll be dealt with harshly once we get them back. Now, bind them and let's be off." 

Sailorneptune felt hands wrap a length of coarse rope around her wrists hard enough to bite into her flesh. Her ankles received similar treatment, and suddenly her world was turned upside down as she was lifted into the air. 

"That's the last of them," the first said. "Keep a close eye on them. I don't know how long they'll be immobile. I've never had to freeze a group this large before, and I don't want to take chances." 

Sailorneptune was jerked into motion; no doubt her captors had started walking. She tried opening her eyes again without success. "They're securely bound, sir. Even if they did start moving, they can't move very much." 

"He's afraid of them because they _might_ be senshi," someone spoke up teasingly from behind. "Aren't you, sir?" 

Sailorneptune heard him snort. "They're dead. These aren't. They aren't the real deal. Now shut up before Her spies hear us." There was no more talking. 

Sailorneptune lost all track of time and direction as they walked. She systematically flexed her muscles periodically as they travelled, and noticed it getting easier and easier to move. She bided her time until she regained full muscle control. Quietly, she opened her eyes. 

She was hung suspended from a pole carried at either end by scruffy-looking men in tattered clothing. Refugees, she realized at once. Survivors of the massacre. As far as she could tell, the rest of the senshi were being carried in the same fashion, but without turning her head and attracting more attention than she wanted at that moment, she couldn't be sure. 

She realized all at once that it was sunny here, but the sunlight felt queer and flat. Almost artificial. They were out of the woods as well, tramping across what looked like a vast grassland. 

"Hey!" a man bellowed from ahead, causing Sailorneptune's heart to beat faster. "We've got captives! Suspicious-looking ones!" She relaxed; no doubt he was hailing more refugees. 

"Put me down," she said quietly, loud enough only for the two carrying her to hear. 

"S - Sir!" one yelped. "This one's awake!" He sounded nervous, and had stopped walking. 

There was an immediate stir of activity in the front, and a low murmer of voices. Finally a giant of a man walked into Sailorneptune's line of sight. He was close to seven feet tall if he was an inch, with arms the size of tree trunks and a jagged scar running down the side of his frowning face. Any sort of hair on his head was gone, down to the eyebrows, making the scar stand out that much more. He was a man Sailorneptune would think twice about messing with. 

"Who are you?" the man demanded. His voice was the one that had first spoken back at the campsite. 

"You already know. I am Sailorneptune. We come from-" 

The man's booming laughter interrupted her. Several men surrounding them laughed as well, but their laughter was weak and uncertain. "It doesn't matter where you come from. You are all imposters, and you will be dealt with." He turned away again, still chuckling to himself. 

"You hold Princess Hoshi captive!" Sailorneptune called after the man. "You will regret this!" 

But he wasn't listening. As Michiru hung helpless from the pole, trying to ignore the dull pain in her wrists and ankles, she, she overheard snatches of conversation. 

"...found them in the forest." 

"...not long...senshi...wants to speak..." 

"...she does? But I thought that..." 

"...just do it." 

The man returned looking vaguely troubled. He withdrew a curving blade from the folds of his tattered robe as he approached her. He raised the blade and swung twice, dumping Sailorneptune rather ungracefully to the ground at his feet. "On your feet, and don't try nothin' funny," the man said, hefting the weapon threateningly. "Your friends are still helpless, and I could easily run them through." 

Sailorneptune got to her feet slowly, rubbing her cut wrists and looking around warily. It was a tattered band of men that had captured them, none without a haunted, desperate look to their eyes. The senshi and Hoshi were all unharmed as far as she could tell, but all were still frozen. 

He prodded her with the sword's point. "Get moving. She wants to talk with you," he said. She moved. 

They were indeed on a grassland. The long green grass waved in the fresh breeze, and the golden sun shone down from a brilliant blue sky. The sun provided warmth, but it still felt fake, and Sailorneptune said as much. The man grunted, but said nothing. 

"Take this one to the tent," the man said to one o fthe others standing around. "Watch her." 

The man nodded and wordlessly gestured for her to continue walking. She considered refusing, but the man's threats held her back. The man she had been given to seemed to know what she was thinking, because he bared his crooked, ueneven teeth and smiled in a manner that clearly said, 'just try it.' She saw the man had no tongue. She continued walking. 

They left the large group behind nad made for a group of tents and campfires not far away. Sailorneptune saw many men millling about, turning meat over fires, tending to weapons, and playing dice games on the ground with others. The scene was domestic enough, but as soon as Sailorneptune was walked into the camp's perimeter, every last one of them looked up and eyed her with suspicion, fear, hatred, and a myriad of other emotions. When they saw what she wore, conversation was forgotten as they all stared stonily at her. Soon, the camp was nearly silent. She held her head proudly and cooly against all their stares. The man with no tongue prodded her to walk faster. She did. 

They passed wagons of supplies and small tents until they came to one that was larger and set apart from the rest. A man was seated on the ground beside it, sharpening his blade. He looked up briefly to take them both in at a glance, then resumed his task. Her guard made several gestures that the man understood, though he didn't seem to be paying attention. 

"Out," he grunted disinterestedly. 

More quick gestures, more urgent this time. 

The man looked up once again, this time studying Sailorneptune close enough to make her skin crawl. He carefully stood then, saying, "I'll take her." 

Her guard gestured again, but the man dismissed his hand signals with a wave. "Go back. I know where to take her." 

Her guard looked indecisive, then shrugged and began to trot away. Sailorneptune dismissed him from her mind and studied her new guard with interest as he bent down to retrieve his weapon. He moved slowly, but with the fluid grace of a cat. His words were short but concise, and his disinterested glances hid a shrewd, observant intelligence. 

"C'mon," he said. "She's out by the perimeter." He sheathed his sword and waited patiently for her to follow. He saw at once her surprise at not being forced and added, "You're not an imposter." He began walking. 

Sailorneptune hurried after. "How did you know?" she asked. "Everyone else seems to think I am." 

His response wasn't immediate; in fact it wasn't until they were a good distance from the tents and the camp that he answered, "See it in your eyes. Her eyes are the same. Fooled everyone, but she trusted me with the truth." 

"Who?" Sailorneptune asked suspiciously. Was she walking unknowingly back into Sailorsaturn's clutches? 

Instead of answering her question, he said, "Surprised to see you. Thought you were captured and killed." 

Sailorneptune was about to tell her story when he said abruptly, "There she is." She looked, and promptly forgot all about responding. 

Her back was to Sailorneptune, but that didn't matter. She knew the blonde, boyish hair, and slim figure instantly. "Haruka!" she cried out, racing past the man and toward her. 

The figure wheeled at the cry. "Michiru!" Sailorneptune heard her cry in return and start running toward her across the billowing grass. She had found Haruka without compromising their reason for being in this Time. Everything was going to be alright. Everything was right. Everything was- 

-wrong. Sailorneptune jogged to a halt not far from where Haruka was running toward her. Without the slightest sign of a limp. Haruka had had an accident that had left her with a permanent limp, and now she showed no sign of it. Sailorneptune felt her heart sink. She had found the Sailoruranus of Hoshi's time. 

Haruka had also drifted to a halt feet from Sailorneptune. She saw the blonde closely studying her face, and knew what she was looking at. Sailorneptune drew her aqua hair away from her forehead, exposing the jagged scar an accident of her own had left. "I'm not from your Time. I'm not your Michiru, and you're not my Haruka," she said quietly. 

Haruka seemed to deflate at these words, and lost the light that had been in her eyes. "Oh..." was all she said. 

"Hoshi...she brought us here to help," Sailorneptune continued hesitantly. "Right now they're being held prisoner by your people." 

Haruka looked past her to the man that had drifted forward to listen. "Will you take care of this? And give them all my apologies, particularly Princess Hoshi. Escort them to my tent. I'll be there presently." 

The man said nothing, but bowed slightly and set off at a brisk pace towards the camp. Sailorneptune watched him go with some confusion at the way he had deferred to Haruka. 

"Come. I think you need to tell me your story," Haruka said, a queer tremor in he voice. She started walking more slowly towards the camp, and Sailorneptune matched her pace. As best she could, she told their story, beginning at the Trials and ending with their confused flight from the Palace. Haruka said nothing during this telling until the very end. 

"What you saw outside were the casualties of the massacre. We couldn't do anything..." She trailed off, a fist clenched at her side. After a moment, she continued. "But you actually got inside? That's more than the rest of us could do. The Queen is alive as well? We thought them all dead. Perhaps this battle isn't over after all." 

"Alive...but not coherant. She screamed when she saw us," Sailorneptune said softly. "It was awful." 

"She screamed because she saw each of the senshi's remains after they died," Haruka said gently. "It was too great a shock for her." 

They walked in silence. "I'm sorry about your Haruka," the blonde said awkwardly after a time. Sailorneptune nodded in acknowledgement but said nothing. More silence. 

Sailorneptune finally broke the silence. "And what of you? How are you still alive and out here?" She couldn't entirely keep the disapproval from her voice. 

Haruka wheeled on her, her eyes carrying that same rage and fear most of the refugees had as well. "You think we just left everyone to die back there? No. Michiru and I were given orders to take as many people as we could away from the Palace. We were told not to come back, no matter what. The Queen knew what was going to happen. She knew..." Haruka drew in a shaky breath and hten continued. "We weren't out long before Sailorsaturn found us. She attacked us in the forest, and we lost almost half of those we took with us. Michiru...was captured then. We got separated, and she took Michiru and not me..." 

Sailorneptune's mind chewed on this thought. So they truly _hadn't_ run from the Palace, which would mean that Hoshi had lied, or didn't know the circumstances. Perhaps their Queen hadn't told anyone about Haruka and Michiru leaving. Without thinking, Michiru reached out and took Haruka's hand out of habit. It felt so odd and uncomfortable that she released it at once. "How is it so nice in this spot and nowhere else?" Michiru asked to break the uncomfortable silence. 

Haruka smiled without humor. "An illusion to give some sanity in an insane world. If you go far enough away from the camp, you'll find yourself back in darkness. If you look back, you wouldn't see us at all. The sunlight reminds us what we're fighting for." 

"They don't know who you are do they, Haruka?" Sailorneptune asked all at once, thinking back to the men saying all the senshi had been killed. 

Haruka shook her head. "Naoto knows. He's the only one. Would it make a difference if they did know?" 

Michiru shrugged. "It might give them hope," she said. 

"They think I'm dead. Let them think that if it'll keep Sailorsaturn from looking for me. And as for hope, well, sometimes it isn't good to give a man too much hope." She looked shrewdly at Sailorneptune. "It'll hurt that much more when he falls." 

They were among the tents now, halting a conversation Sailorneptune would have loved to pursue. They came to Haruka's tent, the man who was Naoto once again seated outside. "They're inside," he said at once. He looked up again, revealing startled eyes. "All of them." Haruka merely nodded and pushed aside the flap leading in, Sailorneptune following. 

There were startled exclamations from the senshi as Haruka entered. Hoshi remained silent, stonily studying the blonde. "This isn't our Haruka," Sailorneptune said at once, quieting everyone. "This is the Haruka of Hoshi's time." 

They looked crestfallen. Haruka saw Sailorpluto about to ask the obvious question and curtly waved a hand. "It doesn't matter what happened to me. What matters is how you plan to help us. We need your help. And you need ours." 

Sailorneptune, who had remained by the tent flapthe entire time, waited for their attention to be diverted before slipping out. With Hoshi, their five senshi, herself, and Haruka, the tent that had been designed to fit four comfortably was beginning to feel stifling. They could strategize without her. 

She stood outside for long moments, staring at the sky, a sky the deep purple of twilight. An illusion, isn't that what Haruka had said? It was like living in denial of reality. Sailorneptune wondered if Haruka had ever planned on going back. She realized then that she had needed to get out of that tent, not because there were too many people, but because of one person. This Haruka was alien to her. Though still the same person, there was nothing there that reminded her of her Haruka. This Haruka made her wonder if she'd ever see her Haruka again. 

Night came to the illusionary land, a beautiful night sprinkled with stars. Sailorneptune spent time staring at this thoughtfully before retiring to the tent that had been set aside for their group. She wished for her violin, for a blank canvas and paint, for anything that she could somehow use to help her think. Absurdly, she thought back to the half-finished portrait of destruction she had started before the world she had known had ended. 

Sailorneptune was asleep that night almost as soon as she lay down. She dreamed of memories... _It was raining as she awkwardly arranged the matching teal robes on her parents' unmoving bodies. They had died protecting the Moon Kingdom, succeeding where the others of the outer planets had failed. They were to be honored, revered, remembered. Already, the leading craftsmen from the three outermost planets were hard at work creating a likeness of the couple to be placed on this very beach where they would be given back to the sea. Michiru scrubbed at her eyes. She wouldn't cry. Even here, alone, she wouldn't cry. _

The rain painted everything teal as she stood on the shore of the great sea. It fell steadily, a curtain to hide what would happen. Michiru straightened. Her parents lay side by side on a slab of rock, a special rock that had been made especially for this occasion. It was carved into a perfectly-formed shell by the masons she had commissioned, all curves and iridescance. Michiru placed both hands at the flat edge on the bottom. "I will lead and protect, Mother. I will give my life for the Moon's safety, Father. I give you now to the Sea. Peace guide your journey," she intoned. A slight push was all it took to send the stone vessel adrift. Michiru watched as the waves caught it and carried it out and away from sight. 

She didn't realize until much later that Haruka had been there, holding her hand and watching with her. Michiru tossed restlessly in her sleep. _"We have to go, Michiru!" Setsuna screamed in her ear. "We've lost! We have to warn Queen Selenity before they arrive!" _

Michiru looked at her briefly as she hurried along with the samll group of people through the streets. "I have to make sure these people are safe," she said briefly. "Then we can go." 

"Michiru..." Haruka said, following the small group. "They know the way. We have to give up Uranus!" Her voice caught as she said this. "We have to go before they find us and kill us!" As if to punctuate her words, a building on their left exploded in inky black power. The small girl in the group wailed. 

When Michiru doggedly ushered the group forward, Haruka grabbed her arm. "We're leaving now." 

Michiru's eyes blazed as she jerked her arm away. "I must see everyone rescued!" she said fervently. "I won't see Uranus butchered like Pluto was...or utterly devastated like Neptune. Metallia has not won!" 

"Follow this road to the end. The evacuation ships are there. Travel fast, and you will make it," Setsuna said quietly to the group of citizens that were watching the pair of royalty fight. They nodded hesitantly, gathered up the younger children, and set off at once, leaving the group of three. Setsuna turned to them. "We've fought too much to use our power to get to the Moon Kingdom," Setsuna said lowly. "The palace has been destroyed, so we cannot get in touch that way. The only way is to use Haruka's ship and pray we can get there in time." 

Haruka nodded at once in acknowledgement. "Let's go." She set a brisk pace, not looking back to see if Michiru followed. She did. 

Confused images. Fighting. Blood. Her head was banged up badly and she lost consciousness for a time. She woke within curved, metallic walls. Haruka stood away from her, hands on panels and staring intently at an image outside. 

"We made it," Setsuna said quietly to her. "Metallia didn't see us. We're safe, for now." 

"What about the people?" Michiru asked, sitting up slowly. 

"Metallia has every last one of them that we thought had gotten away. They're hers now," Setsuna replied. "I'm sorry." 

Michiru said ntohing. She moved over to another viewspace and looked out to see the majestic rings of Saturn sliding by. The senshi of Death and Rebirth was down there, somewhere. Deep inside her mind, past the numbed part of her brain that wouldn't accept what she had just heard, she prayed that Sailorsaturn would forever stay asleep. Michiru turned over again, face troubled even in sleep. _The destruction was complete. They were too late. Michiru felt despair creeping over her as she stood where the marbled walk had once lay. She had failed her parents completely. She couldn't protect her people. She couldn't lead them. She couldn't even protect the Moon. _

Haruka held her wordlessly. They stood in silence. What would they do now? 

"Neptune...Uranus...Pluto...I've been waiting..." a weak voice said. They wheeled, and saw none other than Queen Selenity lying on a crumbled slab of marble. She was clearly injured, but she somehow mustered up a smile for them. 

"Your majesty...we tried to get here in time, but..." Michiru burst out, trailing off. There were tears in her eyes. 

"It does not matter...I knew you wouldn't make it..." Selenity said. "It was hopeless from the start. But, even now, Metallia...she has not won. I saved my daughter and her court, as well as Prince Endymion from Earth. They are in the future. They will be reborn to a new life." She paused to take in a shaky breath and continued. "You must be sent as well. Metallia and Beryl will not be the only ones my daughter will face, as much as I would like it otherwise." 

"But you don't have the strength, Your Majesty," Haruka interjected. "You will die!" 

Selenity smiled again. "It does not matter. I have nothing to live for, now that my Kingdom has fallen. I have just enough energy for two. Uranus, Neptune, you will be sent." 

Setsuna bowed slightly. "I understand, your majesty," she said solemnly. 

Michiru was about to ask what would happen to Setsuna, but the ginzuishou flared and she knew no more. Sailorneptune jerked awake. Her heart was racing, and memories clamored in her head in a confusing jumble of images, conversations, people, and a myriad other things. So many filled her mind that she could no longer separate the memories of her life on Neptune from her life on Earth. She groaned softly, pressing the palms of her hands against the sides of her head. She needed air. And some sanity. 

Her mind buzzed with half-coherant memories as she stumbled outside. She focused on the cool air, the moonlight, the stars, anythign that would stem the tide of memories returning. She walked. There were others awake, but they gave her a wide berth. Apparently Haruka had spread their tale around, and the refugees seemed to be awed of them. Awed and suspicious, as if they were afraid to hope. She was walking out by where she had met Haruka when she noticed someone else out with her. Sailorneptune hurried closer and saw that it was Sailorpluto. _Setsuna's coronation was solemn. Nobody smiled. The circumstances were too grim. Setsuna stood out on top of the ice plains, their lurid blue glow making her look pale..._ Michiru clenched her teeth and stopped this thought. When she drew close to where Sailorpluto was standing and staring up at the sky, she said softly, "You couldn't sleep either?" 

She slowly shook her head. Without looking away from the stars, Sailorpluto replied, "It's the memories. Crystal Tokyo broke down the barriers between our past and present selves, so now I'm remebering places...conversations..." She trailed off, twirling her Time Staff idly in her hands. 

"I know," Sailorneptune said. "I saw your eyes back at the campsite. I knew you remembered. It was wrong of me to bring it up." They remained silent then, absorbing the night around them. "I know its all an illusion, but it seems so real," Sailorneptune said at last. 

"Real enough to remain here forever," Sailorpluto replied. "I'm wondering if this world's Haruka ever planned to strike back against Sailorsaturn if we hadn't arrived." 

"Of course she would have," Sailorneptune said at once, not realizing until she had finished that her words lacked conviction. Another long silence. 

"Haruka is leading us back tomorrow. We should get some sleep," Sailorpluto said at last, but neither of them moved. 

"How much of a chance to we have, Setsuna?" Sailorneptune asked. 

"There is always a chance." 

"But..." Sailorneptune paused to put her thoughts into words. She thought back to the ravaged land, the destroyed city, the handful of surviving refugees, the heads... "But is there anything left to save?" she finished at last. 

"Yes," an arctic voice answered from behind them. Sailorneptune wheeled with her heart in her throat, half-expecting to see Sailorsaturn standing there. Hoshi stood there instead, regarding the two of them cooly. "But I wouldn't expect you to know what I'm talking about. You're no different than the Sailorneptune I know." 

Sailorneptune glared savagely, and was startled when Sailorpluto put her hand on her arm. "We must get along," the Keeper of Time said quietly. 

Sailorneptune swallowed her irritation. "I know now that you had nothing to do with Haruka's capture," she said reluctantly. "But that doesn't mean I trust you. Not after you admitted how you felt about Sailorneptune and Sailoruranus leaving." 

Hoshi inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement. "A truce, then." 

"One moment," Sailorpluto interjected then. "I'd like some answers." 

Hoshi stepped forward, and Sailorneptune saw unease lining her face. "What do you wish to know?" she asked carefully. 

"Who you are," Sailorpluto said flatly. "Who you are, why I feel so much power around you, and why I feel like I should know you." Silence. Sailorneptune became aware of the low hum of night insects in the tall grass. More illusions. Hoshi turned away, but didn't walk away. 

"You did know me," she said at last. "I was much younger then, but I still remember that time. I was closest to Usagi...and you all knew me by a different name." She turned once more, staring at Sailorpluto with luminous unblinking red eyes. 

It hit Sailorneptune then, and she drew her breath in sharply just as Sailorpluto said incredulously, "ChibiChibi?!" 

Hoshi nodded once. "Yes. But that was a long time ago. You needed me back then, and just as you needed my help then, I need your help now. There is still a world to save." 

They were silent until Sailorneptune said curtly, "I'm going back to sleep." She turned and walked back. She had offered Hoshi a truce, but things were still tense. Some things would never change. 

Sailorpluto regarded Hoshi in the dim light. "Why did you come back then, Hoshi? How did you know?" she asked curiously. 

"I came back because I had to," she replied simply. "I just...knew." 

"How can you travel through Time?" Sailorpluto asked quietly. 

Hoshi laughed quietly. "That's what you've wanted to know all along, isn't it?" When Setsuna didn't reply, she continued, "We've had to learn new ways of magic without the ginzuishou," she replied glibely. 

"That may be true, but no amount of adaptation would let you travel Time," Sailorpluto said. "Not to mention, you traveled to a Time I couldn't see. You had to have bypassed the Gates somehow. Power over Time is not learned. It's given." She waited for Hoshi to respond, but she was silent. "Who are you, Hoshi?" 

"I can't tell you," Hoshi said with a tremor in her voice. She fled, but Sailorpluto didn't pursue her. ChibiChibi. Hoshi. Chibi-Usa's daughter. How did they all relate? And who _was_ Hoshi? 

***************************** 

Sailorsaturn breezed through her palace swiftly. Her companion had difficulty keeping up, but Sailorsaturn never slowed. She felt vaguely uneasy, like something was occurring that would jeopardize her plans. It was Hoshi, more than likely. These other senshi would be no great difficulty, but she desperately wanted to have Hoshi's head. 

Sailorsaturn never slowed as she entered the room with the ginzuishou. She looked briefly at Haruka hanging limply in her restraints, then dismissed her from mind. Haruka gave no indication that she was still aware of the world around her since she had screamed herself into a stupor watching her Michiru die. Or who she thought was her Michiru. Sailorsaturn congratulated herself at breaking a senshi so effectively. 

"Sister...slow down..." her companion panted. "My chest hurts..." 

Sailorsaturn smiled as comfortingly as she could manage, though she felt like laughing aloud. This was her greatest victory out of all. "I apologize. My mind was elsewhere." 

The girl was almost doubled over from panting, a hand pressed to her chest. "Perhaps I am getting unwell again," she managed at last. She straightened, looking at Sailorsaturn with wide purple eyes. "Do you think?" 

Sailorsaturn patted the girl's head. "I think your sickness is almost over, Hotaru," she said. It felt strange calling this girl by her own name, but, in essence, she _was_ her. The Sailorsaturn of the past. 

In the beginning they had both been violently ill. The shock of her past self existing in the same Time as her present self threatened to kill them both as the Timestream tried to correct itself. Sailorsaturn had kept Hotaru asleep the entire time, until she corrected the problem. She became part of all the senshi she had killed, and so became less of Sailorsaturn and more of someone else. The Timestream knew no different. 

"I know her," the girl said abruptly, jerking Sailorsaturn from her thoughts. Hotaru stood before Haruka, peering up at her blank face intently. "I know her," she repeated, more insistantly. 

"Do you?" Sailorsaturn strived to remain calm. Had she not done a good enough job wiping her mind clean? 

"Yes..." she replied vaguely. "I feel like I recognize her." She stood there a moment longer, then moved restlessly away. She seemed to shiver. Sailorsaturn busied herself in studying the crystal, but kept a close eye on Hotaru as she neared the dead Michiru. Sailorsaturn kept her body there for when Haruka woke-if she woke. 

Hotaru paused, her wandering eyes attracted by the still form. "No...!" a tremulous voice escaped from Hotaru's lips, different from the calm, detached voice from before. "No...No...No...!" She fell to her knees, still groaning and moaning, her hands pressed tightly to her head. 

Sailorsaturn watched Hotaru closely, ready to act swiftly in the event that the carefully-constructed personality Hotaru believed was true would shatter. But the old Hotaru and old Sailorsaturn emerged no further than the one word she chanted. Eventually though, even that was forced away. Hotaru regained her feet. "What happened?" she asked curiously, turning back to Sailorsaturn. 

Perfect. "You were faint. I'll let you rest before you help me." 

Hotaru accepted this and returned her restless eyes to Sailorneptune's body. "Did she die painfully?" Hotaru asked wistfully. "She looks like it." 

"It doesn't matter," Sailorsaturn said quickly. "Come over here and help me when you've recovered, sister." 

Obediantly the girl moved away from Sailorneptune with one haunted, backwards glance and joined Sailorsaturn next to the pedastal. "What do you need me for, sister?" she asked shyly. 

"A little exercize," Sailorsaturn replied absently. "This might be painful, however." 

"I'll help," Hotaru replied simply. She sounded eager. 

"We have to move the ginzuishou from this room to get it to do what we want. Once we do, it'll be even more painful. This room dampens its power," Sailorsaturn continued warningly. "Do you still want to help? You can stay in here until I am finished. I can manage on my own." 

"I want to help, sister," Hotaru said insistantly. "Please let me help." 

"Very well." Sailorsaturn almost laughed. She plucked the pulsing ginzuishou from above the pedastal and held it in her hand. She felt her own heart thumping against her ribcage and sending quick flashes of pain through her chest, but it was nowhere near the debilitating, all-consuming pain it had been the first few times she had handled it. Perhaps it was because she had the blood of a royal family member in her veins. The first Usagi had fought hard against her, but in the end she had provided Sailorsaturn with the means to use the ginzuishou. She smiled at the irony of it all. 

Still holding the ginzuishou in her palm, she left the room with Hotaru trailing behind. When they left the curving black walls, the pain in her chest increased marginally, enough to speed her breath. Beside her, Hotaru gasped and stumbled, but quickly regained her composure and followed. She had been trained well. 

Up they climbed, until they reached the very top. Before the attacks had mangled the palace, beautiful gardens had been here. Now, however, the walls were gone, the plants long-since dead, and the floor sloped crazily. Amid the rubble remaining, Sailorsaturn had cleared a circular area for her use. It was here that Sailorsaturn stopped. 

"What are you planning?" Hotaru asked curiously. 

"Something I should have done from the beginning," Sailorsaturn replied absently, flicking a stray crystal pebble off the cleared area. "There are survivors. Sailoruranus is one of them. She is guiding the senshi from another Time against me, and its time I did something about it." She released the ginzuishou, and it hovered serenely where it was released. "Touch the ginzuishou, Hotaru. It will be painful, but you are committed now." 

Hotaru nodded once, her violet eyes wide and fearful. She reached out for it, but then her hand jerked away as if burned. "Stop...!" a voice croaked from Hotaru's lips. Hotaru's face filled with rage as she tossed her head. "Don't tell me what to do!" she hissed in response. Her hand shot out again and grasped the ginzuishou. Her face drained of color as her other hand pressed itself against her chest. Her breath came in heaving, harsh gasps. 

"Very good," Sailorsaturn said approvingly, her eyes glittering with triumph. She had won. Her own hand closed over Hotaru's, and she began adding power. The ginzuishou began to flicker erratically... 

***************************** 

"So we agree then?" Haruka asked of everyone present. "The best way in is through the front entrance?" 

"Ami?" Sailorjupiter asked. "Is there another way?" 

Sailormercury had been silent during most of the debating, studying her minicomputer and visor readings intently. The senshi respected her powers of deduction and strategy, and oftentimes her opinion would change their plans. "There are other ways in," she began, tapping on the keys. "But they all involve the tunnels underneath, and my map isn't clear on the correct path to the palace. We could get ourselves lost." 

"We must be quick," Sailorpluto said warningly. 

Hoshi nodded her head. "Once Sailorsaturn knows we're there, there'll be trouble." 

Sailorneptune swallowed the urge to suggest using an alternate route and nodded. She had to stop letting her personal feelings decide her actions. But, what had Sailorsaturn done with Haruka? 

"We leave at once then-" Haruka started, then cocked her head as if listening close to something. Sailorneptune strained her ears, and she caught the distant rumble of thunder outside of the tent. "What was that?" the blonde asked, rising from where she was seated and swiftly leaving the tent. The others followed curiously. 

The sun shone in a sky that seemed to be breaking apart. The brilliant blue they had grown accustomed to was mottled and streaked with glimpses of the unnatural black of the world beyond. The green grass around them lost its color and grew ghostly in appearance, revealing dark rock underneath. The phenomenon grew worse by the second. 

Naoto was on his feet at once. Others were streaming from tents and staring up uneasily at the fading illusion. "How could this be happening?" Haruka demanded of nobody in particular. "I made sure-" She broke off with a sharp intake of breath, her words ending with a gurgle. Her hand was to her chest, and her breath came fast and harsh. Sailorneptune took a step in her direction before her own chest was siezed by an invisible hand. Pain blossomed from her heart, and her vision dimmed. She fell to her knees, only dimly aware that the other senshi were faring no better. 

Seconds stretched on into eternity. Above the roaring of the blood in her ears, she heard booming crashes of what sounded like thunder. The ground shook. She heard the cries of the other refugees somewhere distant. But she could do nothing but grip her chest and fight the darkness that was creeping over her mind. Suddenly, a deafening crash assaulted Sailorneptune's ears as the ground seemed to erupt beneath her. She felt her body being flung into the air. She crashed into something hard and unyielding. She knew no more. 

***************************** 

Sailorsaturn let the last bolt die away feeling pleased with herself. She had let those refugees live long enough for them to feel certain that she wasn't aware they existed. It felt good to ruin another illusion. She may have killed the senshi in the attack, but she didn't much care. Here in the ginzuishou was all the power she had dreamed of. 

"S...s...sister..." Hotaru's voice said weakly. Sailorsaturn turned abruptly away from the image in her mind of how she imagined thir destruction and faced Hotaru. The girl had collapsed sometime during the attack, but Sailorsaturn couldn't recall when. Her mind had been on making each of those deadly bolts count. 

"Are you hurt?" Sailorsaturn asked shortly, offering a hand up. 

The girl took the offered hand and stood on shaky legs. She wiped at the blood under her nose unconcernedly and asked, "What happened?" 

"Your power is immense, sister. You held out well. Perhaps in the future you can be in charge of the attacks." 

Hotaru glowed with this praise, but her eyes were troubled. "But what _happened_?" she asked urgently. 

"The camp of refugees was eliminated, and the senshi with them, with any luck," Sailorsaturn replied after a minute. "Why do you ask, Hotaru?" 

The girl shrugged, wiping the last of the blood from her face. "I feel like I should care," was all she said. 

********************************** 

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	8. Brilliance of Light

Crystal Trials - Brilliance of Light 

After much time and debate, I have decided to, once again, add to my fanfic. Maybe I was wrong to set a specific amount of chapters to write within in the first place. But this is most certainly _not_ the end. But it's close. It took much longer than I would have liked to write, but between college and work, I had problems finding time to finish it up. Not to mention the fact that I think, somewhere along the line, my muse packed its bags and took a vacation on me. But its back in business now. I pray the next chapter will be the last *grin*. Anyway, about the chapter itself (my longest yet!), I, more or less liked how it came out. There's a lot in this chapter. Not to mention, the truth about Hoshi finally comes out! I know for a fact that at least one of my fans was dying to know who she was... 

Main Characters 

Meioh Setsuna - Sailorpluto   
Tenoh Haruka - Sailoruranus   
Tomoe Hotaru - Sailorsaturn   
Kaioh Michiru - Sailorneptune   
Mizuno Ami - Sailormercury   
Hino Rei - Sailormars   
Kino Makoto - Sailorjupiter   
Aino Minako - Sailorvenus 

Also, the word _senshi_ is the equivelant of _soldier_ in english (if you have seen the dub, think _scout_ *shudder*). 

Email me (BlueDolphin) with comments/questions/flames/whatever 

************************************** 

She struggled against waves that threatened to sweep her away. An eternal ocean with fathomless depths. Water as warm as a bath, but left her chilled to the core. _Give in...Give up...Give in...Give up..._ the waves seemed to say as they beat against her shoulders and broke over her head. She fought. 

After an eternal battle she thought she would never win, she finally stopped struggling. The waves broke over her head. She sank. Her air ran out. Drowning wasn't so bad; it was rather like wrapping yourself in a feather-soft blanket and closing your eyes and wasn't it wonderful... 

Roughly she was jerked awake. She wasn't adrift in an ocean, but surrounded by darkness. Overcome by a sense of déjà vu (...Michiru?...)   
(...bruised and cut, nothing more...can you move?...)   
(...I think...) she reached upward. She didn't find Haruka above her, or the rough underside of a brick wall, but what felt like the canvas of a tent. Sudden pain shot through her arm as she moved it, and the darkness fuzzed at the edges... 

She came awake again minutes or hours or perhaps seconds later. Somebody was moving somewhere closeby. Friend or foe? She remained silent. The movement went away. 

She tried shifting her body, but her back brushed against something that sliced her skin open. Unable to bite it back, she cried out. More fuzzy black, but she heard voices before she slipped away. 

"...here!" 

"Michiru...can...hear me?" 

"...die?" 

"...won't let her." (...Haruka!...) 

***************************** 

(...Haruka!...) The cry sliced through the hazy semiconsciousness like a knife. Haruka blinked blearily, but her eyes wouldn't focus. Was that Michiru she had heard? Was she in danger? 

Was she even alive? 

***************************** 

Sailorneptune woke up to a glow. She blinked the gumminess from her eyes and saw that she was lying in a tent. Above her hovered a glowing globe that bathed her in white light. Its intensity made her head ache. Carefully, she tried to move her arm, but the sudden pain as she flexed her arm muscles made her groan through clenched teeth. 

"Michiru?" a voice asked from beyond her line of sight. Sailormercury's, Michiru realized. The blue-haired senshi's head appeared, mercifully blocking out part of the light. "Don't move. You're injured." 

"What...what happened, Ami?" she asked, trying to think back. "We were talking in the tent...and I don't remember..." 

Sailormercury moved away then. "Sailorsaturn attacked the camp," she replied briskly. Sailorneptune heard the sounds of metal on metal. "A bolt struck Haruka's tent behind us. We were all injured, but it took us hours to find you. The blast threw you a good hundred yards away into a tent. The weapons tent. When we found you, you were lying on a pile of swords. It's a wonder you weren't killed. You do have a broken arm, several broken ribs, a severely lacerated back, and a shattered kneecap, however." 

"And the others?" Sailorneptune pressed, ignoring this recap of her injuries. The way her body ached and pained at the moment, she wasn't very surprised. 

"The rest of our group is fine. Their rapid healing closed their wounds within the course of a day. You and Haruka were the ones closest to the tent and suffered the worst." 

"How is Haruka?" Sailorneptune questioned suspiciously. Sailormercury's response didn't come right away, and that told Sailorneptune all she needed to know. "She isn't going to make it, is she?" she asked flatly. 

"I don't think so. The bolt jumped to her after it struck the ground. It was weakened, but not enough..." Sailormercury trailed off. A metal cup was placed to Sailorneptune's lips. "Drink this," Sailormercury ordered, tipping the contents into her mouth. "Haruka isn't healing like a senshi should. I don't understand it," she commented absently as she wiped up the little that escaped Sailorneptune's lips. Whatever it was tasted terribly bitter, and worked instantly at dimming Sailorneptune's mind. Her eyes fell shut of their own accord... 

She felt worlds better when she woke. Nobody was around, so after she had shaken the last bits of fogginess from her mind, she sat up. Her back ached dully, but not so much that she couldn't stand. Looking around, she saw many empty cots, and a flap leading deeper into the tent. She pushed it aside and ventured in. Haruka lay on the far cot, Sailormercury beside her spoonfeeding her a watery broth. She saw Sailorneptune enter and motioned her closer, after a disapproving frown. 

The entire left side of Haruka's chest was badly burned. One leg was positioned awkwardly under the sheet she lay under, broken in several places. Her face was pale, and there was dried blood on her lips, but she still managed to grin sheepishly if a bit weakly at Sailorneptune. 

"Eat your broth," Sailormercury said commandingly as Haruka turned toward Sailorneptune. "If I had a proper IV, I wouldn't have to spoonfeed you." 

"We didn't have time to raid a hospital, Ami," Haruka replied weakly. "Forgive us for not having the forsight." She tried laughing, but it came out as a painful cough. 

"Don't laugh either," Sailormercury went on. "You're likely to laugh yourself into cardiac arrest." 

"At least I'd have two beautiful women here to stop that from happening," Haruka replied teasingly. Sailormercury sighed a long-suffering sigh. 

"Ami, you're exhausted," Sailorneptune spoke up at last. "I can take over. You need to sleep." 

Sailormercury looked about to protest, but reconsidered after seeing something in her eyes. "I'll be in the other room if you need me, Michiru," she said instead, handing over the bowl. "I've got too much to do to fall asleep..." 

Sailorneptune accepted it and sat where Sailormercury had. Silently, she resumed feeding the blonde the broth. A minute passed, then another, before Haruka turned her head away. "You have to fight her, Michiru. Stick to the plan, and things will work," the blonde said quietly. 

"Then you know," Sailorneptune said, setting aside the bowl. "I'm surprised Ami told you." 

"She didn't have to," Haruka said. "Its Destiny. Fate. Call it whatever you want. Setsuna told us about the phenomenon when she was arguing against bringing you here." Haruka stopped, pain flashing briefly across her face. "She died...her words should have been listened to. Multiple senshi cannot exist in the same Time without tragic consequences. The Timestream corrects itself by eliminating the copy, or that's how Setsuna explained it to us." 

Sailorneptune hardly dared to breathe. If that was true, then... 

Haruka's hand touched hers. "Your Haruka is alive. The Timestream chose me to eliminate. Just as it chose my Michiru and kept you safe. I knew my Michiru was dead when you told your story." 

Guilt warred with a rush of hope as Sailorneptune looked away. "I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I understand now why Setsuna was against coming." 

"It isn't your fault, not entirely. Sailorsaturn must be stopped." 

Sailorneptune paused in the act of reaching for the remains of the broth, her heart skipping a beat. "Sailorsaturn took our Hotaru from us. Does that mean that she...That Hotaru is...?" She couldn't finish. 

"Possibly, but not necessarily," Haruka responded after a moment. She seemed to be taking deeper, harsher breaths. "Sailorsaturn has changed into something else entirely. Maybe the Timestream sees them as two different people." A fit of coughing wracked her then, and it was several moments before she regained her breath. She held her side tightly. "Damn her..." Haruka whispered. More coughing. She managed to stifle them at last with a weak attempt at a smile. It looked like a grimace. "Its this...this pain in my chest...makes me feel cold..." 

Sailorneptune took Haruka's hand then, conscious of the fact that her own chest felt queerly tight as well. It reminded her of when she had woken up with the same feeling. They had all experienced severe pain as well before and during the attack. What did it all mean? 

"Don't...think so hard, Michiru," Haruka said as she saw Sailorneptune's thoughtful face. "The answers will come when they're ready..." 

"You know, when I first found out that you weren't my Haruka, I had decided in my mind that you were nothing like her. But now, I'm not so sure," Sailorneptune said, blinking away sudden tears. 

"I thought the same of you," Haruka said, her voice almost a whisper. "But we're still the same people. Just from different Times." 

Sailorneptune nodded, not trusting her voice. They sat in silence for a time, Haruka's breath coming harder and harder as the time wore on. No words were necessary, save the ones they were both thinking of but reluctant to mention. Nobody entered, and there was no noise from beyond the thin canvas. She was lost in deep thought when she felt Haruka's hand grip hers tightly. "Do you remember Galaxia?" Haruka whispered softly. "Before we died?" 

Sailorneptune swallowed, an unexpected vision of Haruka wearing those bracelets from her Trial flashing through her mind. "How could I forget?" she asked. 

Haruka's eyes sparkled dimly with a smile that only barely touched her lips. "Did we truly have everything under control, or were we just lucky at the end when we broke free?" she asked. 

Sailorneptune laughed softly. "As far as everyone knows, we were in control the entire time." 

"You're still warm, Michiru," Haruka said faintly, settling back onto her pillow. "That much hasn't changed." Her eyes closed, but her hand still held Sailorneptune's. 

"I love my Haruka, wherever she is," Sailorneptune said softly, not expecting her to hear. 

"And I love my Michiru. I'll see her soon." Haruka's hand relaxed from Sailorneptune's, but she still breathed faintly. Sailorneptune knew what Haruka wanted. She retrieved the bowl of broth and quietly left, remembering one of the many promises they had made to each other so long ago. Briefly, she wondered if these promises were made on Earth or somewhere in the distant past, but then decided it didn't really matter. It seemed that this Time's Michiru had promised this Time's Haruka to not watch the other die as well. Something as simple as this was oddly comforting to her. 

In the first room, she was startled to see Naoto standing there. Ami was gone. "How is she?" he asked her as she entered. 

"Dying. But you knew that," Sailorneptune said tiredly. The refugees were either dead or scattered. Haruka was dying. The world was dying. Sailorsaturn ruled supreme, the senshi of Death. Where did they go from here? 

"I did," he agreed tonelessly. "I follow you now." 

Startled, she asked curiously, "Why? Surely the people need someone to lead them..." 

"They're gone. Had they stuck around, they might have had a chance. Besides, we have to stick to the plan." 

Sailorneptune stared at Naoto silently, judging him as best she could. "We leave tomorrow. No matter what," she responded at last. "I have to see to the others." She left the tent of Death and stood underneath the sky of Death, all churning blackness. Her back ached, her knee protested, and despite the fact that she had just been told that her Haruka was alive, her mood was somber. Was this all futile? 

She looked around and saw nobody at first. But, as she looked closer, she saw vague figures poised motionless just inside the treeline, no doubt guarding the tent. The only tent. There was nobody around save them. 

She approached the nearest figure, and saw it was Sailorvenus. The blonde had her hair pulled back absently, and she peered restlessly into the woods beyond. "Minako, where-?" Sailorneptune started, breaking off when Sailorvenus wheeled and brought her hands up. 

"Crescent-!" she started, clamping her mouth shut over the rest of her attack. "Michiru...oh...I-I'm sorry...you caught me by surprise..." She brought her hands down and clenched them together. "I can't believe I almost attacked you," she said lowly. 

"It's alright, Minako," Sailorneptune said awkwardly. "An honest mistake. Where's Setsuna?" 

"On the other side somewhere. She and Hoshi are on the far side," Sailorvenus replied, sounding subdued. She returned her eyes to the forest. Sailorneptune moved away, feeling oddly saddened at how jumpy everyone had become. 

She had difficulty locating Sailorpluto, but eventually she found her crouched beside some low bushes. Mindful of Sailorvenus' reaction, Sailorneptune made noise as she approached. Sailorpluto glanced at her, then returned her attention deep into the woods. "You're alright, Michiru?" she asked. 

"Yes...but Haruka..." She trailed off. "She told me about why we shouldn't be here." 

Sailorpluto was silent, her eyes searching the gloom. "Haruka is dying then?" she asked softly. Sailorneptune nodded, not trusting her voice to talk. "I'm sorry you had to find out like that, Michiru. It isn't your fault the other Sailorneptune died and you lived." 

"You knew?" 

"I suspected." 

They fell silent. "We go tomorrow. Ready or not," Sailorneptune said at last. 

"It will be more difficult now, if not impossible," Hoshi's voice spoke up abruptly from beside them. "Sailorsaturn has more control over the ginzuishou than I thought." 

"That was what we felt during the attack, wasn't it?" Sailorpluto asked. "Queen Selenity spoke of the bond between us and the ginzuishou often." 

A queer look flashed across Hoshi's face and was gone so quickly that they doubted it was ever there. "Yes. That's why. Had Sailorsaturn used much more power, we would have died." 

"Get some sleep, Hoshi. Setsuna, if you wish, you can sleep as well," Sailorneptune said before either of them could talk anymore on the subject. It really didn't matter that they had almost died. What mattered was that they were ready for tomorrow. 

"For a bit, perhaps," Sailorpluto acknowledged reluctantly. Hoshi was already moving away. "But not for too long." 

Sailorneptune followed the pair to the main tent, and remained outside while the other senshi on guard wearily trailed in as well. She built a small fire outside and stared into the flames moodily, entertaining dark thoughts. When Ami emerged an unknown amount of time later to tell her that Haruka was dead, she didn't stir. Ami left her alone. 

***************************** 

"Split up?" Sailormars asked incredulously. "We have to stick together! We're doomed otherwise!" The others looked like they agreed with the raven-haired senshi. 

Sailorneptune had expected this. In measured tones, she explained the reasoning that had taken her half the night to organize in her mind. She had swallowed her pride and gone to Hoshi who reluctantly provided what answers she could. 

Haruka's plan would still stand; they would enter the palace through the front. But then, she would lead Sailormars and Sailorjupiter to find Sailorsaturn while Sailorpluto would lead Sailormercury, Sailorvenus, and Hoshi to find the ginzuishou. They must keep the two apart as long as possible. Haruka had not taken into account Sailorsaturn's control over the ginzuishou, and that was why the plan had to be changed. 

There was silence as the gathered group digested this plan. Sailormercury especially looked thoughtful, and kept shooting Hoshi calculating glances. Her visor was out, and she was obviously studying something about the redhead. 

"But wouldn't that be impossible?" Sailorjupiter spoke up. "I mean, she'll know we're there the instant we come even remotely close to the city, and she'll be sure to be near the ginzuishou. Then it's all over." 

"We'll have to take that chance," Sailorneptune replied grimly. "There are no alternatives." 

"I wish to remain behind," Hoshi interjected quietly. 

Incredulous silence greeted this statement. "What?" Sailorvenus burst out at last. "You come all this way, bring us with you, almost get us _killed_,a nd now you want to stay behind?!" Sailorvenus was almost yelling, and would have said more if not for Sailormars' hand on her arm and reproachful look. 

"Why?" Sailormercury asked curiously, her eyes studying Hoshi intently. 

Hoshi shrugged off the question. "I have my reasons," she replied curtly. 

Sailorneptune laughed quietly. "Coward..." she said lowly. "Are you afraid to die, Princess Hoshi?" Red eyes fixed on her own, and suddenly Sailorneptune felt another's mind within her own. (...I must stay behind...)   
(...you're a coward!...)   
(...please, Michiru...trust me...I have a plan...)   
(...why should I?...)   
(...just do it, else you're all doomed...do you place your pride above the lives of your friends?...) Contact was broken, and Sailorneptune blinked her eyes rapidly. Hoshi was looking at her with irritation mixed with hot anger, but remained silent as she awaited a response. 

"Very well," she spat, the words bitter in her mouth. "You may remain behind. But I'll make it clear that I despise cowards." Hoshi regarded her cooly, but said nothing, aside from a brief nod of acknowledgement. Nobody looked very happy with the plan, or with Hoshi. Reproachful looks were shot between the senshi and Hoshi, and they broke off into small groups to talk. 

Sailorneptune let them prepare themselves while her eyes wandered the landscape. Just visible on the horizon were the gruesome remains of the palace, pulsing a weak silver. They were taking a gamble at stopping this close, because they weren't sure what Sailorsaturn was capable of. She was prepared to die; dying didn't scare her. Dying alone scared her. 

She turned back and noticed that Hoshi had drawn Sailorpluto aside and was talking urgently with her. The keeper of Time was listening thoughtfully, but without emotion. Finally, she nodded once and turned away from the redhead. Sailormercury, Sailormars, Sailorjupiter, and Sailorvenus were all talking together as well. Sailorjupiter laughed once, her voice sounding slightly strained. The others smiled. They were in high spirits, but Sailorneptune knew they were afraid, and for good reason. They were about to fight one of their own. 

Looking beyond the group of senshi, she could just barely see Naoto's receeding form. It had taken a heated argument to get him to not accompany them into what remained of Crystal Tokyo, but eventually Sailorneptune had worn him down. She had ordered him to recover whoever remained of the refugees, had reminded them that they came first. Their mission would pit senshi against senshi. It wasn't someplace for him to be. 

"Let's go," she said shortly. She started jogging, and the others followed. Hoshi settled herself on the ground to wait. 

The heads were there in all their gruesome glory. Time had started taking its toll on some of them, exposing the grey-white skulls beneath the sagging skin. Sailorneptune walked resolutely ahead of them all, looking neither right nor left. She heard muffled gagging occasionally from behind her, but she never slowed. 

They passed through the remains of the gate leading into the city and past the heads of the senshi and Helios. Their heads were untouched and pristine, as if they had just been added. Beside the gate, she saw a new addition and faltered for the first time. Her own head. She felt a sudden sharp pang of guilt at the loss of this Time's Sailorneptune at her expense. Mercifully, her feet carried her on, though her mind was on the heads. There was something not right about them, something missing... 

They passed swiftly through the city. Several times Sailorneptune thought she caught movement out of the corner of her eyes, but saw nothing when she looked herself. They were not alone in the city, but were its inhabitants friend or foe? 

***************************** 

"Sister, would you like to do something for me?" Sailorsaturn asked of the girl crouched at her feet while she herself stared with interest into the Aqua Mirror in her hand. She never knew Sailorneptune's scrying instrument could be so useful. "We have visitors." 

Hotaru looked up from the small, fuel-less fire she was patiently building on the floor, Sailormars' tiara clutched tightly in one hand. "Really?" she questioned, not noticing the fire before her vanishing at the loss of her concentration. "May I go greet them?" 

Sailorsaturn motioned Hotaru closer and held the Aqua Mirror out for her to see. "You may do more than greet them. But if you fight them, have a care. You are outnumbered." She waited for Hotaru's reaction. 

"But they know me," she commented. "I can feel that. Would they fight me?" 

"I don't know. Possibly," Sailorsaturn replied glibely. "You may take along protection, if you wish." 

Hotaru's eyes suddenly turned shrewd. "The ginzuishou?" she asked innocently. 

"No," Sailorsaturn replied sharply. "The ginzuishou is mine to use." She gestured and seven tiaras appeared in midair. "Take one of these, if you wish." 

A brief look of irritation flashed over the young girl's face, but then she shrugged with unconcern. "Alright." She studied the tiaras, and selected Sailorpluto's after a moment. She turned and swiftly departed from the room, Sailorsaturn watching her go with a vague sense of unease. Why had she asked for the ginzuishou? 

***************************** 

They rounded a corner, the last before they reached the palace. Sailorneptune heard her fellow senshi breathing harshly behind her, and she slowed reluctantly. A few moments' rest. That was it. 

The others sensed her decision and stopped to catch their breath while Sailorneptune paced restlessly from one side of the street to the other. The broken palace loomed large over them, ghastlier than ever. It leaned in their direction, leaned so much that it looked like it could fall and bury them at any moment. 

Sailorneptune felt uneasy, restless, and worried. Something was building. Their plans were going to go awry somehow, and was she prepared to have her friends die under her leadership and following her orders?She was absolutely certain Haruka was inside, and Hotaru would hopefully be with her. She only hoped they were in a position where they could rescue them both alive, and well. 

"Michiru." A hand on her arm nearly made Sailorneptune leap out of her skin, but it was Sailorvenus who looked at her urgently. 

"What is it, Minako?" Sailorneptune asked, resisting the strong urge to shrug the hand off. 

"To tell you to relax." The blonde smiled a weak parody of her usual sparkling smile. "I'll be the first to admit that I'm not prepared for what will happen, but that doesn't mean I can't adapt. We must succeed, or this Sailorsaturn will win over everything. We will follow you." Sailorvenus seemed a bit embarassed after this short monologue, but nevertheless continued to smile. 

"What about what our Queen would want?" Sailorneptune asked quietly. "I know sometimes our priorities differ from each other, but we must be together on this." 

Sailorvenus' face looked anguished, and it was several moments before she responded, "We will try to see Usagi's will upheld but...if there truly is no other way, then there is no other way." 

"We might not all get out of this," Sailorneptuen went on relentlessly. "Will you go on if others don't?" 

Sailorvenus nodded. "We have to try to stop her." She seemed more sure about dying than going against Queen Serenity's will. 

"Minako, I know the other inners look to you for guidance. Will you follow me?" 

"Yes." 

Sailorneptune let her stern manner slide then, and she smiled at Sailorvenus. "Thank you," she said. 

"Anytime, Michiru," Sailorvenus replied, flashing her victory sign. "If I run across Haruka, I promise I'll rescue her for you." She walked away then, and drew the other inners aside. Sailorvenus talked urgently with them. 

Sailorneptune felt those unseen eyes on her again, and she wheeled to face the buildings. She examined the blank windows searchingly, swearing she saw movement. She dismissed a wild idea of charging in and looking around. 

"Relax, Michiru," Sailorpluto said, coming to stand beside her. "Keep your mind on what is to come." 

"Someone is waching us," she replied. "It's getting on my nerves." 

"I don't sense immediate evil." 

"Just because it isn't evil doesn't mean it isn't a threat," Sailorneptune said grimly. "What were you and Hoshi discussing?" She couldn't help but ask. 

Sailorpluto's face tightened. "It doesn't matter, Michiru," she replied stiffly. Having said that, she turned and stalked back. Sailorneptune watched her go impassively. 

"Rest over," she called, starting to jog again. The others matched her step. They had only taken a few steps before Sailorpluto stumbled abruptly, nearly falling. Sailorneptune saw with some trepidation that she was clutching her chest. "Setsuna?" she asked, half-supporting the green-haired senshi. Sailorpluto shuddered, but didn't answer. 

"Michiru..." Sailormars said softly. "Look." 

Sailorneptune looked up and towadrs the palace. The dim glow from the palace overhead illuminated the street with murky light, revealing a figure walking towards them. She recognized at once the short dark hair and diminutive frame. "Hotaru?" she questioned softly. 

Sailormercury studied her as she drew even closer, saying, "She's not transformed, yet she's wearing a tiara. It looks like Sailorpluto's." 

They all looked startled. Sailorneptune's mind whirled. An artifact from the Sailorpluto of this Time close to the Sailorpluto of her Time was making her sick. The only way Hotaru could have gotten her hands on the tiara of a dead senshi was if she were aligned with this Time's Sailorsaturn. Therefore, their Hotaru was corrupted. She half-expected to see glittering bracelets on her wrists, the markings of Chaos. "She's evil," Sailorneptune said to the others as Hotaru stopped. 

"Why are you here?" Hotaru demanded in a clear, cool voice. "You are not welcome." 

A sudden gust of wind brought the smell of rotting death mixed with the faint ozone smell of the air after a storm. An image of the charred Haruka lying in that tent rose in her mind and made her sick. "Hotaru, it's me," Sailorneptune said around the lump that had risen in her throat. "Michiru-mama." She couldn't fight Hotaru. 

"My sister said you were the enemy," Hotaru responded. "if you go any further, I will kill you." There was a bright flash of purple, and Hotaru was holding an exact copy of Sailorpluto's staff. 

"You're killing her!" Sailorvenus burst out as Sailorpluto sagged to the ground. "Stop!" 

Hotaru smiled a chilling smile. "Stop me, then." She lept into the air, staff held over her head as she flew at Sailorvenus. 

"Crescent beam!" Sailorvenus cried, bringing her left hand up. A pencil-thin beam of light shot out from her pointed finger and clipped Hotaru's hand. Hotaru cried out, but kept hold of the staff. 

"Shabon spray!" A cloud of dense mist rolled in as Sailorvenus scrambled aside just before Hotaru crashed back to the ground, the staff slamming where the blonde had been standing. Sailormercury's fog hid them from Hotaru, but it also hid Hotaru from them, as well as each other. They dared not speak. 

"You think that'll stop me?" Hotaru asked with a half-laugh. She sounded closer than before, but her voice echoed against the buildings on either side of them and made it impossible to determine its direction. "Dead scream..." A purple light lit the fog as Sailorneptune braced herself to leap aside. At her feet, Sailorpluto groaned again. The sphere of energy came hurtling out of the fog inches from Sailorneptune, but she screamed anyway. She hoped she sounded convincing. 

Sure enough, Hotaru leaped savagely from the fog, expecting to see Sailorneptune wounded and easy prey. Instead, Sailorneptune was on her in an instnat, punching and kicking as she evaded the ineffective swipes of the staff from its inexperienced wielder. Sailorneptune dropped under a wide swing and swept her leg under Hotaru, causing the girl to trip and land on her back. The staff skittered away and vanished in the fog. Sailorneptune quickly flipped her over and caught her in a headlock. "Fooled you," she said. 

"Let me go!" Hotaru shrieked wildly, thrashing in her arms. Sailorneptune answered by tightening her grip. "You will pay for this," Hotaru said furiously. She went suddenly slack in Sailorneptune's arms and started whispering. Sailorneptune heard one word spoken and her blood turned to ice. Chronos. Hotaru was preparing to stop Time itself and, most probably, kill them. And she could do nothing. She tightened her grip on the girl, entertaining a desperate thought to restrain Hotaru as much as she could so she couldn't move once Time stopped. 

"Time..." Hotaru whispered, the word sounded dragged out as things seemed to grow sluggish to Sailorneptune. Her heart beat once, and it was several moments before she heard it beat again. She found it hard to move. 

A piercing scream from Hotaru shattered the spell before it finished. The girl shrieked and writhed in Sailorneptune's arms, her hands straining against Sailorneptune to clutch her head. Just as Hotaru's screams grew hysterical, she abruptly vanished. 

Sailorneptune sat back on her heels and wondered what had just happened. The last tendrils of fog vanished just as quickly as it had come, revealing the other unharmed senshi. "We heard you scream, Michiru," Sailorjupiter said as they ran up. "Are you alright? Where's Hotaru?" 

"She vanished. I'm fine," Sailorneptune replied absently. Sailorpluto stirred then, scattering Sailorneptune's further thoughts. She blinked a moment and sat up, looking fairly well. 

"Are you alright now," Sailorpluto replied. "What happened to Hotaru?" She listened intently as Sailorneptune explained, looking grave as she finished. "Hotaru couldn't control the power of Time, I think. Sailorsaturn rescued her, more than likely." 

"How could she use your power, Setsuna?" Sailorvenus asked, looking disturbed. 

"The tiara. No doubt Sailorsaturn has possession of the other tiaras as well," Sailorpluto replied grimly, standing up. "As well as the ginzuishou. We must be prepared for anything." 

There was an uncomfortable silence as the other inner senshi digested this information, until Sailorneptune said, "Let's keep going even though she knows we're here. I made a promise to Haruka." Having said that, she started walking resolutely toward the palace. 

"Which Haruka?" Sailormars asked herself softly. 

Sailorpluto heard. "Both." 

***************************** 

The ease of which they entered the palace disturbed them. Silently, and with no resistance, they slipped through the tall, arched doorway leading inside. They paused then. "Stick with the original plan," Sailorneptune said quietly. "Rei, Makoto, you will come with me to distract Sailorsaturn. Setsuna, Ami, and Minako will go for the ginzuishou." 

"What if Sailorsaturn already has the ginzuishou with her?" Sailorjupiter asked. 

"I don't think she does," Sailorneptune replied. "I think she's busy with Hotaru after her fit. Besides, I don't feel any pain." 

They looked moderately reassured. Grimly, they looked at each other as Sailorpluto said, "Good luck. I pray we'll make it out together." 

Sailorneptune nodded, biting back the words of not wishing for too much as she led Sailormars and Sailorjupiter down the hallway at a dead run. Sailorpluto likewise started in the opposite direction. Nobody looked back. 

***************************** 

"I don't know where the ginzuishou is, Setsuna," Ami spoke up after they had been jogging down hallways picked at random for long minutes. "There's too much interference." 

"I feared as much," Sailorpluto responded. She made herself keep running, but turned her mind inward. (...Hoshi?...)   
(...yes?...)   
(...where's the crystal room?...)   
(...listen carefully...) 

***************************** 

They burst into the throne room without fanfare or preamble. Sailormars and Sailorjupiter came to an abrupt halt just behind Sailorneptune, and they all looked uncertainly about. 

The throne room was dark, a deep, penetrating dark that allowed nothing to be revealed. They could just barely glimpse each other in the dim light that spilled in from the open door, but the light didn't penetrate far. Sailorneptune strained her ears, but couldn't hear anything. "Sailorsaturn!" Sailorneptune shouted challengingly, taking a few steps in. She had a brief thought about the darkness being alive and slowly smothering her... 

A soft gasp rewarded Sailorneptune's challenge, and chased away her wild thoughts. It didn't sound like Sailorsaturn. 

"Who's there?" Sailorjupiter demanded on Sailorneptune's left. The aqua-haired senshi turned her head, but only could glimpse a vague impression of Sailorjupiter standing there.. The darkness grew even more intense the further they plunged. 

Soft sobs from somewhere ahead. "Go away," a shuddering voice said. "Go-go away. You're dead..." 

When she spoke, they knew instantly who was in the darkness. "Queen Usagi..." Sailormars murmered. "Chibi-usa." 

"Touch my arms and walk with me," Sailorneptune said lowly. She felt two hands on her arms, and began to walk slowly forward towards the soft sobbing that had resumed. "Queen Usagi...we were sent here by your daughter. Do you remember Hoshi?" 

The sobs abruptly stopped. "Hoshi...? Hoshi...she's dead...I sent her so long ago...she's dead...SHE'S DEAD!" Queen Usagi screamed. Sailorneptune swiftly moved toward the screaming, doing her best to ignore the hysterical ring in the distraught woman's voice. 

"We come from the past, Usagi. Sailorsaturn followed Hoshi back and attacked her. She was stranded in our time until we awakened after our world was ready," Sailorneptune said as soothingly as she could. "You summoned us." 

Sailorneptune's foot nudged something yielding, and she crouched down. Queen Usagi was silent. "Is...is this true...? I'm afraid to believe..." 

"Michiru..." Sailorjupiter murmered from closeby. "We aren't alone." 

Sailorneptune ignored this fact; she had figured as much. "Yes, its true. Believe us." She reached a hand out and felt for the distraught woman's hand, but the queen recoiled from her touch. 

Just then, Michiru heard the scuttling of someone swiftly approaching them from behind. Sailorneptune lunged away with a warning yell to the other two senshi, but the darkness prevented her from seeing if they escaped. 

"Sailorsaturn!" she heard Sailorjupiter growl angrily, and Sailorneptune cursed the senshi of Lightning for not keeping silent. There was a bought of odd-sounding laughter somewhere back where Sailorneptune had left Queen Usagi. 

"Supreme...Thu-" Sailorneptune heard Sailorjupiter begin, and there was a brief flash of light that allowed Sailorneptune to glimpse the situation. But the attack ended abruptly in a gurgle. Sailorneptune closed her eyes, reliving the scene she had glimpsed from the flash of light. Just before the attack had abruptly died, Sailornpetune had seen their Hotaru poised with her glaive raised, ready to strike at Sailorjupiter. 

***************************** 

"Here," Sailorpluto said shortly, veering off through a low archway. Sailormercury and Sailorvenus were only steps behind. They paused within a large circular room, warily studying the scene before they would allow themselves to be elated. Only feet ahead, in the center of the room, was the ginzuishou. On one wall, hanging limply, was Haruka. Nobody appeared to be present. 

Sailorvenus broke away and swiftly moved over to where Haruka hung. "Haruka?" she asked, peering at the blonde's face. "Wake up!" When the blonde still didn't stir, she stepped back grimly. "Crescent beam!" she shouted, skillfully aiming the beam of energy so that it neatly sliced the shackles around her ankles. Another beam and her wrists were free, sending the blonde tumbling to the ground. 

Sailorpluto approached the pedastal warily while Sailorvenus was occupied with rousing Haruka. The more she stared at the ginzuishou, the more unnerved she felt. The greasy red light it pulsed at steady intervals was a far cry from the purified light that Serenity could coax from within it. What had Sailorsaturn done to it? 

She was just preparing to relay that they had found the ginzuishou to Hoshi when a cry in her mind made her stumble. (...Setsuna!...)   
(...Michiru?...)   
(...Hotaru attacked us...she knows you're there...)   
(...and Sailorsaturn?...)   
(...don't know...be careful...not doing very well here, but we'll hold her as best we can...hurry...) She was gone then, leaving Sailorpluto anxious and uneasy. Something was wrong. She looked around at the scene again, but saw nothing different than before. 

"What's wrong, Setsuna?" Sailorvenus asked, standing up and looking at Sailorpluto in some concern. 

Sailorpluto shook her head dismissively and returned to examining the ginzuishou. On her side, Sailormercury said in a hushed voice, "What's wrong with it?" 

"I don't know," Sailorpluto said shortly. She turned her mind inward. (...Hoshi?...)   
(...did you find it?...)   
(...yes...what did you want us to do?...)   
(...i feel someone here...someone's listening...)   
(...hurry! what did you want us to--...) Sailorpluto clutched her head as she felt something sever the connection. Sailorsaturn knew they were there now. They had no time to waste. A hand shot out for the ginzuishou, but just then, a voice behind them made her freeze. 

***************************** 

The three of them raced through the halls, striving to keep their quarry in sight. Sailorneptune knew they were slowing, however, and fought to keep the grey mist in her mind at bay as she ran on. 

The only one of them that was uninjured was Sailormars. Sailorneptune had found Sailorjupiter on their way out, not dead, but the glaive wound that pierced her shoulder was making her dizzy from bloodloss. And then there was herself. 

As soon as she feared Sailorjupiter dead, she ran at where she had last seen Hotaru, hoping to catch the girl off-guard. She made the mistake of stopping. She cursed herself for this mistake. Queen Usagi had been right by her feet, and she had knelt down to check the woman's condition. Finding she was unconscious, she was just straightening when she had heard muffled giggles behind her. She had wheeled in alarm and, instead of retreating quietly away, she had stood her ground. Hotaru must have been standing in front of her this entire time, for Sailorneptune heard the swish of the girl's glaive as it descended. Pure reflexes saved her life, for as she reeled backwards, the tip of the glaive had sliced its way down the left side of her face and across her left eye. Had she been any further forward, she would have lost her life. 

As it was, however, the pain had almost caused her to lose consciousness right there and then. It was Sailormars who saved her, a well-placed arrow of fire slamming into Hotaru just as the girl was bringing her glaive back to strike again. Snarling in rage, Hotaru had run off into the darkness in the direction of the arrow while Sailorneptune was left to recover her senses. She had peered blearily through her good eye, forcing herself to focus. There had been sounds of struggle off to her left, and she had heard Sailormars shout angrily. It had occurred to Sailorneptune then that the girl had no problems seeing them, while they couldn't see her. She had struggled to her feet, and found her Aqua Mirror in her hand. This darkness was magical; that was the only explanation. Somehow, Hotaru had conjured a darkness that obscured their eyes only. 

"Dispel this darkness!" she had managed, realizing that the Aqua Mirror was in her hand. She had felt it grow warm in her hand. "Submarine Reflection!" 

Shimmering teal light had poured from the reflective surface and spread out before her. Where the light touched, the darkness had melted and revealed bits of the throne room. Slowly, Sailorneptune had turned with the mirror until all of the throne room had been bathed in the dispelling rays of light. She had dropped her suddenly-heavy arm as she finished, the Aqua Mirror vanishing just as soon as she did, and sized up the scene before her. 

Hotaru had stopped in the middle of swinging her glaive at an unharmed Sailormars and was staring at Sailorneptune in consternation mixed with anger. Sailormars was unharmed, and used this momentary distraction to retreat a safe distance away from the girl. Sailorjupiter was lying on the ground not far from where Sailorneptune stood, her left shoulder drenched in blood, but her face still held color. 

Hotaru had lowered her glaive then, and had smiled an unpleasant smile. "Kill me," she had said, looking directly at Sailorneptune. She threw her glaive aside. "If you can, kill me. I won't fight back." 

Jarring pain brought Sailorneptune away from her reminiscence. Her wound on her face had reopened, and blood was running down her face. Gingerly, she wiped at her face with one of her gloves, but the sharp pain made her stop. She felt her head swim, and the corridor she ran down with Sailormars and Sailorjupiter wavered before her eyes. Stumbling, she nearly fell. She could go no further; she had lost too much blood for that. 

"Rei," she panted, catching herself again as she stumbled. "Take Makoto and go. Don't wait. I'll be fine. Ahead, Sailorneptune saw from her good eye Hotaru darting around a corner. "You two can still keep up." 

Sailormars gave her a quick glance, looking in some alarm at the state of her face. "How will you follow, Michiru?" she asked, again facing forward so as not to lose sight of where they headed. She led the way around the corner Hotaru had dodged around. 

Sailorneptune considered telling the raven-haired senshi that she wasn't entirely sure she would be following, but changed her mind at the last minute. "Nevermind that. Go," she said instead, jogging to a halt. She forced them to make a decision; pursue Hotaru and leave her behind, or assist her and lose their last hope at finding their way through the maze of corridors. 

Sailorjupiter started to slow as well, but Sailormars said sharply, "Listen to her, Makoto." The words sounded painful for her to say. Sailorneptune knew that Sailormars was aware of her worsening condition and knew what it was Sailorneptune was going to say. Sailorjupiter cast a last look back, then matched Sailormars' faster pace as she cradled her injured shoulder. They were soon out of sight. 

Sailorneptune attempted to continue down the hallway, but she felt her knees buckle under her. Crying out, she pitched forward and fell. Her shaky arms pushed herself back up, so that she was sitting upright with her back against the wall. She briefly thought about standing up and continuing on, but her tired mind wouldn't let her. She soon found herself drifting away, and her dreams were of what had just occurred... _"Kill me. If you can, kill me. I won't fight back." _

She clenched her fists. The girl stood not twenty feet from her, arms at her side, and looking at her with a mocking smile that angered her. Still, she couldn't force herself to take a step. This was still Hotaru. She closed her eyes. 

Haruka was on her mind. They were in the kitchen of their home in Tokyo with Setsuna. Right after she told Haruka what was happening to Hotaru back before their world ended. Haruka was looking at her meaningfully, reminding her of their pledge to kill Hotaru if she should turn on them with only a look. But she couldn't. She didn't agree back then, and she didn't agree now. She couldn't kill Hotaru. Not after she had a hand in raising her. Hotaru was the child she knew she would never have. 

She opened her eyes again. "Rei..." she whispered to Sailormars beside her. She hated to look weak, but she couldn't do it. She clenched her fists at her side, attempting to wrest control of her body away from her stricken mind and attack the girl. "I can't..." Painfully, she waited for Sailormars to do what she herself couldn't do. The flame never came. Sailormars hadn't taken a step forward. Confused, she turned her head to look at Sailormars. 

Sailormars had her head averted and bowed. "Serenity wanted us to help her..." she said lowly. "Minako told us of her vow to you, but I can't just turn my back on what Serenity wanted...I'm sorry Michiru, but I can't..." 

Hotaru laughed a self-satisfied laugh. "I knew you couldn't do it. I know you know me somehow. But whoever you knew me as, I'm not her anymore." She sauntered casually over to where her glaive had been carelessly discarded and picked it up again. "And I shall kill you now." She thrust her hand into the air. "Guardian Saturn, give me the power! Saturn Planet Power, MAKE UP!" 

Darkness blinded their eyes once again, but it vanished just as quickly as it had come as Hotaru finished transforming. Now she was Sailorsaturn, wearing a copy of the same fuku as the Sailorsaturn they had come to kill wore. With a triumphant glint in her eye, she leveled he glaive at them. "Silence Glaive..." she called, raising the weapon by its haft and holding it upraised above her. 

She tensed, just preparing to leap aside, when the unexpected happened. "MICHIRU!" The scream came from Sailorsaturn's throat, but it was in the voice of the Hotaru she remembered. The hands holding the glaive trembled. "MICHIRU! STOP HER! STOP ME!" The scream came again. 

Thrown by this unexpected turn of events, Sailorneptune was frozen in place. "Hotaru! Break free!" Sailormars called at her side. "Please, break free!" 

Sailorsaturn's hands trembled even more. "I CAN'T...STOP ME BEFORE I-" 

Hotaru's old voice was cut off. Sailorsaturn's hand tightened around the weapon as the silver blade glowed purple with contained power. "Get out of my head!" Sailorsaturn growled. The weapon swung downward. "SURP-" 

Again Sailorsaturn was cut off. "Jupiter Oak EVOLUTION!" A barrage of lightning enveloped Sailorsaturn and broke the spell. Sailorsaturn screamed in pain and, as the attack faded, braced herself on her glaive. Sailorjupiter came to stand at her left, trying not to wince at the pain in her pierced shoulder. 

Seeing the odds rapidly swinging against her, Sailorsaturn turned and ran. She had started to pursue when Sailormars abruptly said, "What about Queen Usagi?" 

She had forgotten about the stricken queen and paused briefly to look. The queen was crumpled on the floor and breathing shallowly, her face pale and drawn in terror, her eyes closed. She turned away. "There's nothing we can do. We'll come back," she said. She started running. The others followed. In the hallway, Sailorneptune's body propped up against the wall sagged to the floor. 

***************************** 

"Stop," an amused voice said behind them. Sailorpluto whirled to face Sailorsaturn and found herself unable to move. From the corner of her eye she saw Sailorvenus frozen at Haruka's side as well. "I've been waiting for you," she continued, striding forward into the room. "So glad you didn't disappoint me." Her eyes roamed the room and she frowned slightly. Where are the others?" she asked of Sailorpluto. As an afterthought she added, "You may speak." 

Sailorpluto found that she could indeed speak. "Far away from here," she spat, glaring at Sailorsaturn. 

Three quick strides and Sailorsaturn was within arm's reach. Sailorpluto's ears rang from the resounding slap across her face. "You lie," Sailorsaturn commented, sounding extremely amused with Sailorpluto. "Where are they?" 

Sailorpluto remained silent. Sailorsaturn smiled ferally, pleased with this resistance. "You will tell me eventually, I think. I have broken senshi before." 

"You want our tiaras. Why not just take them from us now?" Sailorpluto asked challengingly. 

Sailorsaturn looked at Sailorpluto carefully, judging how much she knew. "I cannot take them. They must be given willingly," she replied. She looked beyond Sailorpluto. "What is it, Minako? I sense you have something to say." 

Sailorpluto found her own mouth freeze up as Sailorvenus began speaking, "Who are you, Sailorsaturn? You're not Hotaru! You can't be!" 

Sailorsaturn looked taken aback, as if this were the last thing she expected to be asked by the blonde. "You don't know? You haven't figured it out?" she asked in bewilderment. She laughed in genuine amusement and strode over to where Sailorvenus was frozen. Kneeling so that she was face to face with her, she began speaking in low tones. Sailorpluto, straining her ears, was just able to overhear. 

"Chaos..." Sailorsaturn hissed. "I am Chaos come again. And this time, nothing will stop me. This body is perfect for my designs! You claim that Sailorsaturn would never do this, yet it was because of her weaknesses that I was able to take control." 

"Chaos..." Sailorvenus whispered in horrified shock before she managed to control her tone. "Usagi defeated Galaxia. She won against Chaos." 

Sailorsaturn alughed. "Fool. You can't win over Chaos! True, I was banished for a time, but I have returned eager for revenge! Where is Usagi? Where is your saviour now?" She stood up and walked away from Sailorvenus, still talking. 

"Galaxia almost had you. My best attempt at ruling the galaxy was through her. I had even won over Usagi! But then I felt power flow into her, a power that was everything that mine wasn't! I knew not who it was or where it came from at the time, but it was this power that won. Now I know. And I won't let it win over me again!" 

"Sailorcosmos," Sailorpluto stated flatly as Sailorsaturn looked her way and allowed her to speak. "That was who defeated you." 

Dark anger settled on Sailorsaturn's face. "Yes. The anti-thesis to Chaos. Law. Twice, she has thwarted me. But not htis time. I am stronger now than I ever have!" 

"Twice?" Sailorpluto asked, delaying her as much as she could. From the corner of her eye, she saw Haruka twitch. 

Sailorsaturn looked amused. "Yes. Don't you remember what happened to your Kingdoms? That was done by my hand." 

"Metallia...? You were her?" Sailorpluto asked in surprise. "So you were all of our enemies, then. In truth, we fought the same enemy this entire time." 

Sailorsaturn turned away, clasping her hands behind her back. "Not all, but most. Wiseman. Pharoh 90. Queen Nehelenia. Metallia was the most successful back then. She managed to destroy all of the kingdoms, including the one on the Moon. But that power was there too and chased her away until much later," she said broodingly. 

"Who--?" Sailorpluto started, but her mouth seized up as Sailorsaturn whipped around to face the door. 

Hotaru came charging through the door. "Chased...behind me..." she gasped, using her glaive to keep on her feet. 

Sailorsaturn looked at Hotaru in some pity. "You were an excellent pawn, Hotaru. But your usefulness had wonr off. I and I alone will be ruler." 

Hotaru straightened, shoulders still heaving as she fought for breath. "What do you mean?" she asked, sounding fearful. "You're my sister." 

"Only in name. I am not your sister," Sailorsaturn replied patiently. Suddenly, Sailorsaturn brought her hand back and swung at Hotaru, but the girl reacted quickly. She leapt back away from Sailorsaturn's swing, landing within reach of the ginzuishou. 

"What do you mean?" Hotaru asked lowly. "Tell me what you mean." Fear was gone, replaced by anger and determination. 

Sailorsaturn looked momentarily taken aback. Clearly she had expected the girl to be distraught or hysterical. "You're no better than they are," she said with a half-laugh. Her eyes watched the girl warily. 

"She means, Hotaru, that she's been tricking you this entire time," a voice spoke up from the doorway. Sailormars was there with Sailorjupiter. "You're our friend, Hotaru. You're our Sailorsaturn." 

Hotaru's face was blank, her eyes regarding the lot of them suspiciously. Finally her eyes settled on Sailorsaturn. "I don't know who to believe," she said almost conversationally. "I don't know who to believe, but I want what you would never give me." Her hand darted out for the ginzuishou, but Sailorsaturn was too quick. 

With a gesture, the girl was frozen. Seeing this, Sailormars was quick to react. "Mars Flame SNIPER!" An arrow of flame arced out and caught Sailorsaturn in the middle of turning. She stumbled, but snarled and whipped around to face the pair. 

"Sparkling Wide PRESSURE!" Sailorjupiter called, ignoring the pain in her shoulder as she flung a ball of lightning at Sailorsaturn. This time, however, the evil senshi was ready. 

"Silent WALL!" she countered. The lightning bounced off harmlessly. The pair of senshi started to dodge aside, but Sailorsaturn had them caught in a matter of moments. As one, Sailormars and Sailorjupiter rose into the air, their hands clutching their throats and their mouthes trying to take in air. "You dare attack me?" Sailorsaturn hissed. Sailorjupiter was flung across the room where she impacted the crystal wall and crumpled to the floor. "And you...you dare to injure me?" she asked of Sailormars, who was still suspended above the floor. Sailormars' face was beginning to change color, and her frantic clawing at her throat was growing weaker. Her eyes remained open, however, and she glared in open defiance at Sailorsaturn. 

Sailorsaturn looked in disgust at her. "Suffocation is too quick," she said. Sailormars flew up against the wall, where shackles like the ones that had confined Haruka caught and held her. She turned then to survey the scene. Sailorvenus, Sailormercury, Sailorpluto, and Hotaru were frozen where they stood. Haruka and Sailorjupiter where both unconscious. She smiled in satisfaction as all the senshi lifted into the air and were imprisoned. "Chaos has won." She smiled an unpleasant smile. 

***************************** 

Once again the darkness surrounding her soul parted. Deep inside her, some sixth sense throbbed painfully. Danger. There was danger around her. People were in trouble, and something had to be done. But she didn't know if she had the strength to continue. She was so tired... 

The throbbing wouldn't let her sleep. There was something more, something that went beyond the danger around her. Her mind brushed the part of her that belonged to someone else and she froze. Pain. There was pain in her soulmate. Conflict. Life. A vague spark of life... (...Haruka...)   
(...Michiru?!...) The voice in her mind was silent, and she thought she had been hallucinating again. After all, she had watched her love die right before her eyes. (...Haruka...)   
(...Michiru! where are you?...)   
(...Haruka...) She knew then that, somehow, Michiru was alive. Barely. Her mindvoice was weak and fuzzy, almost lifeless. She gripped their bond tightly, and her mind filled with an image of her love sprawled out on the floor of a long hallway. Michiru's face was averted from view, but the floor around her head was smeared with red. (...Michiru! get up!...)   
(...I tried...I can't...)   
(...you can! don't you dare give up, Kaioh Michiru! I need you...)   
(...you're in pain, Haruka...you feel empty...)   
(...I thought you were dead...please...get up and find me...the others are in danger as well...) Haruka felt Michiru's mind slip away then, and she almost panicked. She had watched her die once; she wouldn't live through twice. But then, she felt their bond strengthen fractionally, and pain jangled her. Michiru was struggling to her feet, painfully, but she was still alive. Fierce resolve washed over her. She had a reason to keep fighting. Gripping this new resolve, she attempted to open her eyes but found them gummed shut. After some difficulty, she opened first one eye, and then the other. 

Before even sizing up the situation, Haruka found herself searching for Michiru's body hanging on the wall. Her body wasn't there, and she felt relieved. What she found instead was almost as bad. Ringing the walls in varying stages of consciousness were the senshi. Sailormercury and Sailorvenus were awake and talking together across the room where they hung side by side. Sailorjupiter was beside Sailorvenus, her face drawn and pale. Her eyes were closed, but Haruka couldn't tell if she was awake or not. Sailormars hung beside Sailorjupiter. Her eyes were open, and every now and then either Sailorvenus or Sailormercury would glance her way, but she never contributed to the conversation. Looking closer at the raven-haired senshi, Haruka could see vivid purple-black bruises ringing her neck, and realized why she was being so quiet. It probably pained her to talk. Beside Sailormercury hung Sailorpluto, also awake but not contributing to conversation. The senshi of Time seemed to have her eyes on Haruka, and when Haruka met the woman's eyes, she started in surprise, but then averted her gaze. Haruka was puzzled at her reaction until she realized the obvious. Sailorpluto must have been in charge, and had failed. She was in the process of coming to terms with her failure. Haruka let her gaze wander as well. If she craned her neck enough to the left, she could just glimpse Hotaru hanging there. Haruka frowned in puzzlement. Something here wasn't right. 

Looking across the room at Sailorpluto, Haruka opened her mouth to speak, but found her throat dry and rasping. Swallowing a few times to work some moisture in, she tried again. "Setsuna," she managed, coughing a little. 

Sailorvenus and Sailormercury's conversation halted, as they both looked at her in some startlement. Sailormars also glanced in her direction, grimaced, but said nothing. Sailorjupiter never stirred; she must have been unconscious. "Haruka...are you alright?" Setsuna asked lowly. 

Haruka considered this question and almost laughed aloud at the total absurdity of it. "Does it matter?" she countered. Realizing that that was an unfair question to ask of Sailorpluto, Haruka added, "What happened? Where am I?" 

"A long story," Sailorvenus said with a laugh that sounded almost hysterical. Haruka saw that she was shaken, and had seen much. Too much, perhaps. 

Slowly, Sailorpluto related the story. At first, Haruka had problems believing her, but after comparing the incredible things Sailorpluto was saying to her situation and what she remembered, it made a sort of weird sense. "Usagi?" Haruka inquired after Sailorpluto had run out of words. 

"Remained behind," Sailorpluto replied instantly. "It would serve no purpose to bring her here. Besides, she is with child, and she has a kingdom to run." 

Haruka nodded slowly, running her eyes around the room. They all looked to be in varying degrees of pain, both physical and mental. Their situation looked bleak. If Sailorneptune didn't make it...they were all doomed. In frustration, Haruka strained against her bonds. Not even the littlest movement. "Damn," she said forcibly, collapsing against the wall she hung against. 

***************************** 

Sailorsaturn paced. She had most of the senshi captive, but the one she wanted most still eluded her. Where was Hoshi? Shouldn't she be running to the rescue of the ones she brought? Mentally tallying the senshi in her possession, she realized that she was also missing Sailorneptune. Where was she now? 

Chaos wanted to be free. Every now and again, Sailorsaturn felt as if something were straining against her mind. As if she were two separate persons instead of one. Chaos had chosen _her_ to be its new host, but now it was growing restless. It knew as well as she that, without Hoshi, things could potentially come down on their heads. And it wanted to go about finding Hoshi instead of waiting for Hoshi to come to them. Patience, she tried telling it. But it would have none of her placations. It was Chaos. It didn't need to listen to her. 

Hoshi. Law would be destroyed this time. Sailorsaturn swore it. Reluctantly, Chaos' restless pullings at her mind abated. It was more powerful, but, right now, Sailorsaturn was in control. And it, too, was willing to bide its time. 

***************************** 

Outside the crumbled remains of the once-fair city, Hoshi sat crosslegged on the rock she had been sitting on since being separated from the senshi. She hadn't moved since they had departed, hadn't been in contact with any of them save Sailorpluto, and that was only for a few brief moments. Yet she was aware of what was transpiring. They were all captive, and in dire need of help. But, as callous as it sounded, she was after Sailorsaturn and the ginzuishou and her mother. If she rushed in there right then, she would lose her bait. 

Sailorpluto had been trying to contact her for quite a while now, but Hoshi wouldn't have it. She wanted to maintain the illusion that Sailorpluto wasn't getting through to her. Hoshi stared hard at the city on the horizon. These senshi meant nothing to her, not really. The senshi of her time meant something to her, but these pale shadows of the senshi she knew meant nothing. They couldn't know what she had seen, they couldn't be as strong as the senshi that had fought to the death in her time. They were nothing more than pawns to gain her the prize she wanted so desperately. 

Briefly, she heard the words of the lessons her mother taught her. Compassion. Selflessness. Morality. Her mother wouldn't be happy seeing her like this now. But she didn't much care. Sailorsaturn had to pay for what she had done. The cries of her father and grandmother rang in her ears, drowning out her mother's lecturing tone. Bowing her head, Hoshi relived those last few moments in the palace... _"She's inside," Serenity said tiredly. Hoshi stood near her grandmother, and at her words, she looked at the elderly woman. They called her Serenity instead of Usagi so as not to confuse her with Hoshi's mother. Now, at nearly ten thousand years, Serenity looked worn and weary. Her hair was bleached almost white by time, and fine lines spiderwebbed across her face and around her eyes. Her brilliant blue eyes had faded some as well, leaving them a sort of washed-out color. An extended lifespan allowed them to live countless years beyond that of their subjects, but it didn't render them immortal. Not knowing what else to do, Hoshi placed a hand on her grandmother's shoulder. _

Usagi was there as well, holding tight to the ginzuishou floating between her two hands. Her youthful face was all determination and strength, and at the announcement that their enemy was within the walls that she called her own, she grew angered as well. "We will fight," she said in clipped, flint-hard tones. Her eyes were flashing a razor-edged blue. 

"Peace, Usagi," Helios said softly, a hand briefly touching the woman's. "This will not be a bloodfest. She is a senshi, after all." Hoshi studied her father, wondering at how he could maintain such a patient, confident tone even in the face of such adversity. The man's faded white hair was tousled and brushed impatiently away from his face, revealing his soft amber eyes. However, there was nothing soft about them at this particular moment. The grim set to his mouth and the stiff set to his lips revealed to Hoshi that Helios was as angered as Usagi was. 

"He is right, daughter," Serenity said. "Don't kill her...please." 

Usagi looked about to argue, but sighed. "What else can we do?" 

An explosion wracked the palace. The floor vibrated alarmingly beneath their feet. Hoshi looked apprehensively at the door. She needed to transform. To protect them. 

Serenity's hand closed over Hoshi's. "Not now, Hoshi. Save that power. It isn't yours to wield yet," she said kindly. Hoshi realized then that she had unconsciously been gathering power within her, preparing for the moment when she would have enough to embrace that unknown but exciting part of her that she longed to be. It was powerful; many more times powerful than any of them alone. Perhaps powerful enough to drive off Sailorsaturn in one fell swoop. 

"Why?" she asked. "Why wait? I can use it now. I can feel it. Its right there." 

"A time for everything, Hoshi," Serenity said. "The time for your power isn't now." 

Usagi, still holding tight to the ginzuishou, looked puzzled. "Mother? What do you mean?" she asked. 

Serenity affected not to hear. To Hoshi alone, she focused her attention. "Do you understand?" 

"I used it once before," Hoshi said, almost defiantly. Then, as an afterthought, added, "Almost. I was closer than I had ever been to it when I faced Chaos." Serenity looked sad. "I remember. I remember you being there, I remember hearing your voice and receiving hope even after I had watched my friends die," she said softly. "That was before I was queen. My first encounter with Chaos. Against Galaxia." She was silent a long time, and the faraway explosions slowly gained in intensity and proximity. "But your power cannot be used until you are able to wield it properly," she continued more firmly. "Promise me you won't use it now." 

"I promise," Hoshi said finally. The words choked her to say, but she had made her promise. 

Serenity looked about to say more, but just then, the four inner senshi burst into the room. "Sailorsaturn is close," Sailorvenus said at once. All four of them looked grim. They, too, were starting to show their age, but they wouldn't let that stop them. They would serve the royal family until they died. 

"What about the outers?" Helios asked. "Have they responded?" 

"No," Sailormars said shortly. "They have ignored our cries for help." 

"If they can still hear it," Sailorjupiter cut in, casting Sailormars a disapproving look. "We don't know that they're purposely ignoring us." Sailormars snorted, but said nothing. 

"What about Hoshi?" Helios asked suddenly. 

The others looked at her. Hoshi wanted to stay and fight. She wanted to tell them that, but the words stuck in her throat. The floor shook again, and a piece of the crystal wall broke and shattered loudly, making them all jump. "She's here," Serenity said suddenly, just as the door blew open. 

Hoshi turned with the rest of them, preparing to fight until eminent death, but just then, her father's arms encircled her. "Don't move," she heard him whisper in her ear. "Whatever happens, don't move. Please, Hoshi. Don't move." A warm tingling sensation spread out through her body, and when she looked down at herself, she saw that she was invisible. Her father abruptly withdrew his arms. 

Sailorsaturn breezed in, radiating darkness. "Leave," Usagi spat. 

Sailorsaturn said nothing, merely smiling a smile and holding her hands up. Hoshi watched as the inner senshi charged forward. There was a brief charged battle, but then in one large blast of energy, all four of the senshi were blown across the room and lay unmoving. Something stirred within Hoshi as she watched this with wide eyes. 

"I want the ginzuishou," Sailorsaturn said then, advancing on the clustered group. Hoshi stood among them, between Usagi and Helios, but Sailorsaturn couldn't see her. Suddenly, a feeling of hopelessness overwhelmed her. She knew they wouldn't all make it out of this alive. 

Serenity strode forward boldly. "You cannot have it," she said in a ringing voice. Years seemed to melt off of her with this one declaration. "Not without a fight." 

"A fight you shall have," Sailorsaturn said with grim amusement. "Silence Glaive SURPRISE!" She swung the glaive downward, and a wave of energy flew at them. Serenity flung her hands up, and a surprisingly bright dome of silver sprung up around them. The attack was deflected harmlessly. Sailorsaturn frowned, but then smiled as Serenity seemed to waver at this display of power. "Your powers are limited," she said. "A second attack, you wouldn't survive." 

"Nevertheless, I will resist," Serenity said through clenched teeth. Hoshi wanted to run to her. The feeling within her grew to a feeling of urgency, of need, of fulfillment. 

"Silence Glaive SURPRISE!" 

Sailorsaturn was right. When the wave impacted the shield, the shield wavered, then fell. What remained of the attack slammed into the older woman, sending her flying. "Mother!" Usagi cried. At her side, Helios gripped his hands tightly at his side. On his forehead, a shimmering horn had begun to appear. Hoshi knew what was going to happen deep inside her and wanted it to not happen. 

"You cannot have the ginzuishou," Helios said quietly but firmly. He had begun to glow a soft gold. 

Usagi knew what her husband was planning as well, and held the ginzuishou up before he could. "Please! Don't do this! See how wrong you are, Sailorsaturn!" Usagi cried, tears streaming down her face. They all knew that Serenity had passed on, had all felt that chill feeling deep inside them that marked a passing of a royal family member. "Don't kill anymore!" 

The ginzuishou flared with Usagi's emotions, but Sailorsaturn regarded it with no more interest than one might pay an especially annoying fly. "You cannot touch me, my dear Usagi," she said with a great deal of sarcasm and venom. "Now, the ginzuishou..." 

At this moment, everything seemed to blend together for Hoshi. To this moment, she wasn't sure how Sailorsaturn had accomplished what she did. In one instant, she was leering at them from across the room, but the next, she was among them. Her glaive pressed up against Usagi's throat, and blood began trickling down her neck. Hoshi was so close, she could have touched Sailorsaturn had she tried, but her father's words kept echoing in her head. _Whatever happens, don't move_. 

Helios was not going to stand by and let this happen. With a snarl of rage Hoshi had never heard her laid-back father use before, he launched himself at Sailorsaturn. The horn gracing his forehead grew more distinct as he roughly jerked Usagi away and flung her away from him. "You will fight me," he said softly, his voice iron-hard and razor-sharp. There was a flash of golden light, and Helios pulled a sword from midair. He struck first. 

Sailorsaturn deflected Helios' thrust awkwardly, but then recovered and slashed. The two went back and forth with their weapons for an unknown length of time, their faces masks of concentration. Several times, Sailorsaturn came close to colliding with Hoshi who stood there dumbly and mutely as she watched the fevered battle between them, but each time she narrowly veered off. Finally though, Sailorsaturn slashed at Helios' arm, wounding it and distracting him enough for her to end it. With a quick thrust upward, the glaive stabbed through clothing and flesh and impaled its wide-eyed victim. Sailorsaturn gave her weapon one last wrenching twist, watching in glee as the light faded from Helios' eyes, then shook the body off distastefully. Hoshi's tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth. Dimly, she wondered if whatever spell her father had cast on her would still work even after his death. 

Sailorsaturn advanced on Usagi, who had watched the whole thing. The ginzuishou still glittered between one clenched hand, but the pink-haired queen paid it little attention. "Give me the ginzuishou," Sailorsaturn said. "I have killed your husband. I will kill you, too. But first, the ginzuishou." 

Neo-Queen Usagi lifted her bowed head. Her eyes were dry. "Never," she said slowly and distinctly. "Kill me first. But you will not have the ginzuishou." 

Sailorsaturn shrugged. "There isn't any need for you to give it to me. I can take it from you just as easily, I suppose," she said almost conversationally. She threw her head back, and oozing dark power erupted all around her. "CHAOS!" she screamed. The restless power surrounding her, looking to her to unleash it with that one word, rushed Queen Usagi and the ginzuishou, wrapping them both up. Hoshi could hear her mother's screams as the power writhed and pulsed around them. She couldn't take anymore. Whatever her grandmother Serenity had said, she had to do something. 

"STOP!" she cried, taking a step forward. With her motion, the spell concealing her dissolved. She glowed with some inner light, so her step into Sailorsaturn's view was heralded with a bright glow that made the evil senshi shield her eyes. Before this strange light, the black power seemed to shrink. Sailorsaturn herself hissed in pain, but as the darkness returned to her, she started laughing in triumph. Before Hoshi's horrified eyes, Sailorsaturn held up the ginzuishou. Her face twisted in the pain the ginzuishou was causing her, but still she laughed. Hoshi rushed at her, but all at once, Sailorsaturn vanished with the ginzuishou. 

Hoshi's arms dropped to her side and her head slumped. She turned to her mother, who was slowly picking herself up from the floor. Not looking at the bodies of Helios or Serenity, they emraced. Hoshi found herself crying when she came to herself again. Her father and her had been very close, until Sailorsaturn had taken him from her and her mother. Her mother had been driven mad by Sailorsaturn's abuse. The senshi she had turned to for support after he father's death had all been killed as well at Sailorsaturn's hand. 

She wiped her eyes dry on the fabric of her white robe, turned almost grey through travel and wear. She stood, and looked towards what remained of her home. Distantly, deep inside, she heard the calm voice that advised her when she most needed it tell her to curb her anger. Anger would only result in more death, and unnecessary death was what her duty forbade. Was the death of her father necessary, she asked of the voice, then shut it up deep inside where she didn't have to hear its preaching tones. This same voice had explained to her who she was and what her duty to her mother and the senshi would be. But had the voice taken into consideration who she would lose along the way? Her hands clenched into tight fists at her side. 

She would kill Sailorsaturn. And Chaos she harbored inside her. Neither of them would survive. She, Sailorcosmos, swore it. 

********************************** 


	9. Chaotic Conclusions

Crystal Trials - Chaotic Conclusions 

BlueDolphin 

************************************** 

She stood among the plants in the gardens above her palace, looking down on the city she now ruled. The sun shone brightly on the crystal buildings, making them glitter and glint almost too brightly to stare at for long. If she looked carefully among the buildings, she would see her people moving among them on their daily business. They had, more or less, regained some semblance of real life. 

After she had awoken her people from the sleep that had spared them from the end of their world, they were understandably dazed and confused. When they saw her striding confidently through the ruins, resplendant in a flowing white dress and with long golden pigtails that brushed the ground she walked upon, they regarded her with astonishment and reverenace. Even awe. But, after she had patiently explained to them that she was not a Goddess on earth, nor was she any sort of religious icon to be worshipped, they were remarkably accepting of all she told them. She would help them rebuild their lives, staying out of them as much as she possibly could. She would protect them from the evil they never knew existed, no matter what would happen. She and a handful of others would serve as their guardians. Where were the others? She couldn't explain that right away. They would come shortly. 

She prayed they would. Ami. Rei. Makoto. Minako. Setsuna. Michiru. Haruka. Hotaru. Would she ever see them again? Already, it had been several weeks since they had departed. How many more weeks would it be? 

The whining cry of an infant nearby broke her from her reverie, and she moved away from the crystal pane she stood staring moodily out of. Not far off, draped in pale pink gauze, was a cradle. Inside the cradle was her daughter. Her namesake, Usagi. Affectionately called Chibi-usa. 

Neo-Queen Serenity picked up the fussing baby and started gently rocking her, all while thinking about Time and her friends. The daughter of the baby she held at this very moment had been in her court not a month earlier, to ask their help in fending off an evil force. She had, unwillingly, allowed her senshi to go. And she had not seen them or heard from them since. An icy cold hand of fear gripped her chest tightly as she once again thought of the unthinkable. The idea that her senshi might not return to her had been occurring to her more and more often, and became more and more persistant. 

"Usako." 

Neo-King Endymion stepped towards her and their daughter from the path. Serenity quickly sized him up, noting with some disapproval that color still had not fully returned to his gaunt face. "You should be in bed," she said sternly. "You're not well yet." After she had awoken her people, Serenity had seen to it that her betrothed was found. Within hours, word spread to her that he had been found, and when she had suspended all the activities she had been busying herself with to occupy her mind to go to him, his state shocked her. Just as she had been Sailormoon prior to the end of the world, he had been her defender and lover Tuxedo Kamen. With the end of the world came the end of that phase of their life, yet the bond between Tuxedo Kamen and the very earth itself remained. As the earth suffered the cataclysmic effects of Sailorsaturn's power unleashed, Tuxedo Kamen lapsed into a catatonic state. Even though Serenity had saved his life just as she had saved the thousands of others by encasing them in crystal, he continued to suffer within these confines. His gaunt, skeleton-like appearance had scared Serenity at first, and she had thought the worst. But, through care and sheer force of will, Serenity brought him around. She wouldn't let Endymion die. Not if it meant leaving her alone. 

He ignored her reproachment. "Usako," he said again, coming closer. "I can hear your thoughts. They will return." 

Serenity looked down at Chibiusa for long moments, before gently settling her back down in her cradle. "What if they don't?" she asked at last, wheeling and looking at him with anguished eyes. 

Endymion embraced her, and she pressed up against his chest. "They will," he said soothingly. 

"But what if they don't?" 

"They _will_, Usako." 

"But what if?" 

Endymion sighed. "They will come back, Usako," he said again, then, as Serenity started to speak again, added, "But if they were to not come back, then we will have to make do on our own." He held Serenity as she said nothing in response. "You have a kingdom to rule and people to protect, Usako. Everything is second to your responsibility," he said softly. 

Serenity stirred against him. "What if I'm not strong enough to protect everyone on my own?" she asked. "I couldn't save everyone when they truly needed me. What if something happens again?" 

"You aren't on your own, Usako. You know that," he chided mildly. When she looked up at him stubbornly, he added, "And if worse comes to worse, the ginzuishou will find new protectors." 

Serenity was silent again. "But they'll come back," she said firmly at last. 

Endymion hid a smile as he hugged Serenity closer. "They will." 

************************************** 

Sailorneptune felt her way along the wall, her one good eye not used to not having th eother to aid it. As a result, her perceptions were skewed, and her progress was slowed. She hadn't realized how badly Hotaru had sliced her until she traced the gash with her hand after the blood had stopped flowing. It was a clean slice, to be sure, but Sailorneptune knew that her eye would never heal, not completely. But at this point, she didn't much care. Haruka was alive, and the others were captured. She had to find them before she was discovered. 

Grimly, she rounded what was perhaps the hundredth corner. She didn't really know how long she had been searching, or how long the others had been captive. She had blacked out after losing touch with Haruka, and hadn't been able to reach any of the others after she had regained consciousness. This worried her. On top of this, without the guidance of Haruka's presence in her mind, she had no idea in what direction to head. She grimaced; this wasn't turning out well. 

But damned if she would give up. 

Resolutely, she pulled her tired body along the corridor. 

************************************** 

Sailorvenus looked around at the senshi hanging on the wall. Some were injured, some weren't. But she felt oddly responsible for their fate, particularly the other inner senshi. In the absence of Usagi, _she_ was their leader. _She_ was the one they looked up to. And now, Sailorjupiter was gravely injured, and Sailormars' throat clearly pained her. Sailormercury was the only one of the inners that was uninjured, and she hadn't spoken in a very long time. She thought back to the promise she made to Sailorneptune about rescuing Haruka and felt even more saddened. She had failed there, too. Dejected, she slumped back against the wall and thought of how distant her dream of being an idol singer seemed. And, she thought Usagi-no, Serenity. 

Beside her, Sailorjupiter faded in and out of consciousness. In her waking moments, she wondered what drove Hotaru to strike at her as she did. Her shoulder pained her considerably and, combined with the injuries she had received slamming into the wall by Sailorsaturn, often drove her to unconsciousnes. She was angry, but she couldn't be angry at one of their own. Usagi's silent plea to not kill Sailorsaturn replayed in her mind. And then her mind would drift off… 

Sailormars suffered the same qualms as Sailorjupiter. Her mind screamed revenge in time with the throbbing pain in her throat, but her heart echoed with Serenity's voice. Serenity. Somewhere between stepping through the portal that had carried them all to this hellish world and now, she had ceased to think of that blonde with the odangos as Usagi. She would rather injure herself than go against her wishes, but what if there was no other way? Would she understand? Sailormars surpressed a painful sob and wished with her whole heart that Serenity were here now to tell her what to do and to say all the right things that would make the situation better. 

Hotaru thought of nothing. Her mind was empty and her soul was in turmoil. Who was she? What had she done? 

Sailorneptune was on Haruka's mind. Her entire being was striving to regain contact with her aqua-haired beauty, just in case. In case of what? In case Haruka would never be freed from these bonds. In case she died here, without dignity, without a fight. The thought scared her so much, she refused to think of it. Instead, she tried to get around whatever it was that separated her from Sailorneptune. And swore revenge on Sailorsaturn for causing them both pain. 

Sailorpluto had mastered her own feelings long ago. She had shoved away those feelings of guilt and responsibility, and instead focused her mind on how to get out of this present problem. However, there seemed no way to get out without first freeing herself. It seemed to Sailorpluto that their only hope rested on Sailorneptune, wherever she was. Or Hoshi, but Sailorpluto was willing to trust Sailorneptune a lot further than she would trust the redhead. It was clear to Sailorpluto that Hoshi had been using them as her pawns this entire time, and considered them expendable. Now that they were captured, Hoshi was no doubt considering another plan, and had put them out of her mind. Sailorneptune had been right the entire time, and Sailorpluto had allowed herself to be decieved. 

Sailormercury was the only one among them who wasn't consumed by fear, anger, uncertainty, or any other sort of debilitating emotion. A problem had been posed to her, and her analytical mind tackled it with a vengeance. She found that, if she concentrated hard enough, she could call her visor out by sheer force of will. With her arms bound, use of her computer was out of the question, but she was well-used to working with what was available. 

So, while everyone else entertained dark and grim thoughts, she was caught up in mastering this hands-free way of using her visor. A maze of lines appeared before her eyes and, after studying it for several moments, realized that it was the corridors she had traveled along. According to it, they were far beneath the palace, in the labyrinthine passages the people had fled to in order to escape the attacks. There was the room they were in now, a handful of small blips representing them. Outside of their room, off the map, was another blip. Could this be Sailorneptune? Or was it Sailorsaturn? As she studied this, a larger group of blips appeared at the very edge of what she could detect. What was this now? 

Sailormercury considered teling the others, then decided against it. There was no sense in raising their hopes unnecessarily. She continued exploring the capabilities of her visor, and slowly looked around the room. It was then that she noted something worth noting to the others. 

"That isn't the ginzuishou," she said into the silent room. 

The others stirred, startled out of their thoughts at the sound of someone's voice. "What, Ami?" Sailorvenus asked slowly, unsure of her ears. 

"It isn't the ginzuishou," Sailormercury repeated, studying the crystal facets closely. "Well, it is, but at the same time, it isn't," she amended after another examination. "Its like a….an echo of sorts. I can see the power there, but it seems…faded." 

"Its because the senshi of this time are dead," Sailorpluto spoke up then. "The ginzuishou uses the senshi as a focus. The only reason it has any power now is because, first and foremost, the Queen is not dead. As long as it has a wielder alive somewhere, the ginzuishou has power. Also, Sailorsaturn is in possession of the tiaras of the dead senshi. This confuses the ginzuishou into thinking the senshi are still alive and prevents it from creating replacements." Sailorpluto sagged after this monologue, as if the words had drained her. 

Sailormercury shook her head. "It seems more than that. I can see Chaos' taint, and a vague impression of the crystal underneath, but nothing more." When nobody responded, she let the matter slide. Instead, she asked the question nobody would ask. "Michiru was right, wasn't she? Hoshi isn't going to come." 

There was a pause while everyone looked at Sailorpluto. "No. I don't think so," the green-haired senshi replied slowly. 

Before anybody could voice the helplessness their faces revealed they felt, Sailormercury did something quite uncharacteristic of her. She took charge. "Haruka?" she asked, looking at the blonde who seemed to be lost in thought. 

Haruka blinked at the mention of her name and turned surprised, questioning eyes on Sailormercury. "What?" 

"Have you tried breaking free?" she asked simply. "I'd ask Makoto, but she's wounded. You're the strongest of us, right now." 

"I've tried. The crystal didn't give," Haruka replied, as if it had been a stupid question. 

Sailormercury nodded. "I thought as much." 

"Do you have an idea, Ami?" Sailorvenus asked. 

"Maybe. I'm going to try lowering the temperature in the room. I'm hoping the crystal will freeze and grow brittle." 

Sailorvenus blinked. "You can do that?" 

Sailormercury laughed a little. "I remember my mother teaching me a little about my powers when I was young. She explained to me that I could theoretically do anything I wanted with the power given to me. I'm going to see if she was right." 

"Your mother was a doctor, Ami," Sailorvenus said slowly. "And she doesn't even know about your powers. None of our parents do. What are you talking about?" 

Sailormercury looked startled and vaguely confused, as if this hadn't occurred to her. "I…don't know. I remember being taught my powers at a very young age…" she trailed off, looking thoughtful. 

"What you're remembering is your lives during the Silver Millennium," Sailorpluto spoke up then, looking solemnly at Sailormercury. "Nevermind where you learned it, Ami. Go ahead." 

They watched as Sailormercury closed her eyes. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but all at once they felt the air around them first turn cool, then downright cold. Sailormercury glowed blue, her palms flat against the crystal wall in an attempt to focus her power into it. Indeed, the shackles attatched to the walls seemed to be growing colder faster than the rest of the room. 

When their breath started to show in the chill air, Haruka began straining once again. She worked at it for long moments, almost coming to the grim conclusion that this wasn't going to work, before she felt one give. Only slightly, but she redoubled her efforts. The others split their attention between the straining Haruka and Sailormercury who seemed to be having difficulty maintaining the cold. 

And then, a shackle shattered with a crystalline sound that echoed in the room. Her teeth gritted, Haruka shattered the shackles restraining her legs. And then, her last arm shackle. She was free. She wasted no time then, afraid the cold wouldn't last. One by one she swung at shackle after shackle with her fists until they were cut and bleeding. One by one, the senshi were freed. 

Sailorvenus caught the exhausted Sailormercury up in a giant hug. "Good going, Ami!" she cheered. Sailormercury managed a weak smile in return. 

"We have to go," Sailorpluto said urgently. "If we get away from the city, I can get us home." 

Haruka picked up the unconscious Sailorjupiter and said in a tone that brooked no argument, "Not without Michiru. She's still alive." 

"What about Hotaru?" Sailormars managed around her agonizing throat. She cast a quick glance at the girl who stood apart from the group with a blank look on her face. They all turned to look at Hotaru with varying emotion. They had almost forgotten what had happened in their joy at being free. Almost. 

Usagi's voice ringing in her ears, Sailorvenus took the initiative and approached the girl warily. "Hotaru? Its me. Minako. Do you remember?" 

Hotaru stirred and turned violet eyes on the blonde. "Minako…? I…don't know," she said in a small voice. "I remember…a palace…and yellow rings shining in the sky…I remember being someone else that fought for a cup of great power…but then, Sailorsaturn said these weren't true. She told me that I was a bad person, but that if I helped her, I wouldn't be bad. She said that all the things I remembered were dreams, and that the dreams were coming to get me. I had to protect Sailorsaturn from the dreams. She said I was her sister…" 

Sailorpluto came forward then, and knelt down by Hotaru. "Everything that she told you was a lie, Hotaru. Everything. Sailorsaturn kidnapped you from us, from our time. You belong with us. You are _our_ Sailorsaturn. The one you called sister is someone who's trying to hurt us. Please, we have to hurry, but we want you to come with us. We're going to save you, Hotaru." 

Hotaru looked like she was considering Sailorpluto's words, then shook her head violently. "But she was so convincing!" she almost wailed. The loud voice made the other senshi wince and look with some apprehension at the doorway. Haruka took a few steps out into the hallway and looked in both directions. 

"I know, I know," Sailorpluto said hastily. "But you have to trust us. You'll remember everything, soon." 

"Chibi-usa," Sailorvenus said all at once. "Chibi-usa's going to be born soon, Hotaru. Don't you want to be there to see it?" 

Hotaru blinked. "Chibi-usa…" she all but whispered. She gave her head a brief shake as if clearing unwanted thoughts away, and said more loudly, "I'll go." 

Sailorvenus smiled a genuine smile of relief and traded looks with Sailorpluto. They had both heard Hotaru repeat Chibi-usa's name, and knew she remembered their friendship. "Alright then, lets go!" 

************************************** 

(…they're escaping!…) The hissing-whine of Chaos' mind shrieked through Sailorsaturn, sending her stumbling. Gripping a nearby table for support, she said aloud, "I know." (…they will meet up with the Warrior of Oceans!…) "I _know_," Sailorsaturn repeated, a trifle annoyed. "They will not meet without resistance." (…a handful of youma will not suffice! What sort of game do you play with them?!…) "This is no _game_ I play," Sailorsaturn replied, a touch insulted. "The youma are not intended to stop them." She lowered herself carefully onto the crystal throne. (…I will not tolerate defeat. You mean nothing to me. Why do you wait? Kill them now!…) Sailorsaturn smiled. Chaos didn't know everything, apparently. "Because they're still bait. Hoshi hasn't given up on them and, even now, draws close to them. She is within the palace. I will have her head, and you will have revenge on the oen who has repelled you for so long." 

Quiet, delightful laughter filled Sailorsaturn's head as she sat back to wait. In a carefully guarded portion of her mind, she herself laughed at Chaos. The omnipotent opposing force in the galaxy? Sailorsaturn had problems believing it. Chaos was forced to depend on others, forced to work through them. Just as Chaos thought it was working through her, when, in actuality, she felt like she was in control. Chaos was nothing, not really. Nothing but a mad, power-hungry being who, quite often, did nothing more than mumble to itself about all the defeats it had suffered and about how this time things would be different. This time, things _were_ going to be different, but not in the way Chaos expected. 

Her right hand reached out and lightly brushed the glowing ginzuishou that appeared in the air beside her, thrilling both in the shock of pain that jolted her and in the knowledge of the pain she was causing the others. 

************************************** 

Haruka grunted and almost fell as a bolt of pain shot through her chest. Around her, she heard the other senshi gasp as well. Sailorvenus whimpered. Hotaru fell to her knees. But, all at once, the pain was gone. Haruka looked at the others, who looked back in some trepidation. 

"Sailorsaturn has the ginzuishou," Sailormars coughed painfully. Would these wounds never heal? 

"Then why doesn't she kill us now? Right here?" Sailorvenus demanded, a ring of hysteria in her voice. "Why?" 

"Because we're bait, I think," Sailorpluto spoke up quietly. 

"For Michiru?" Haruka asked, almost hopeful. If they were still bait, then she was alive somewhere. It frustrated her that their bond was being blocked. 

"Possibly," Sailorpluto replied. "Come, let's keep going." 

Sailormercury took the lead again, thinking of the blips on the maps she had found before. Try as she might, she couldn't find it again, but instead used one similar to guide them out. The others slowly followed. Sailorjupiter was being carried by Sailorvenus, Sailormars beside Sailormercury, and Sailorpluto and Haruka bringing up the rear with Hotaru between them. 

It wasn't long befor suddenly Sailorpluto let out a strangled cry and was flung aside. Haruka wheeled, but in the darkness she couldn't see anything. "We aren't alone!" she declared for th eothers then, with her henshin wand in hand, shouted, "Uranus Planet Power, MAKE UP!" 

Ina n instant, Sailoruranus stood there, poised and ready to fight…what? Though her senses had been heightened by the transformation, she could see no one. Beside her, Hotaru moaned low in her throat, but Sailoruranus paid the girl no mind. 

"Where is it?" Sailormars asked from the side of the hallway, standing over Sailorpluto as the senshi of Time regained her feet. Sailorjupiter had been propped beside Sailormars, her head lolling on her chest. 

They were silent, looking and listening for their assailant. Then, all at once, Sailormercury ducked to one side. "Here!" she called. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" Tendrils of frozen water circled and shot out from the senshi's hand. Not five feet from her, the water slammed hard into something. Sailormercury started to back away, but was flung into the air before she got far. She hit the ground painfully. 

Sailoruranus sprang into action immediately. Drawing a shining blade from midair, she lept and swung at the place where Sailormercury had been moments earlier. "Space Sword Blaster!" The blade glowed blindingly as she swung and struck-nothing. With a clang, the sword bounced off the crystal floor and jarred Sailoruranus. "What the..?" she said through clenched teeth. "Nothing can be that fast!" Something tugged at the back of Sailoruranus' mind, but in the heat of the battle, she paid it no attention. 

"Venus Love Me Chain!" A strand of glowing yellow hearts snaked out from Sailorvenus' hand and was soon joined by multiple others. They arced along the corridor and, as if with minds of their own, encircled themselves around something. A shadow among shadows, but it gave the others a point to attack. 

"Burning Mandala!" Sailormars managed, burning rings of fire lancing out and striking the captive monster. There was a keening whine as it thrashed. Sailorvenus stumbled forward a few steps as the links of hearts jerked her forward. 

"World Shaking!" Sailoruranus shouted, slamming an orange globe of energy at the monster. The keening was louder this time. Sailoruranus swore it sounded urgent. But the chains suddenly fell to the floor and dissolved, and silence descended on the corridor. 

"Its gone," Sailorvenus said in some relief. She helped Sailormercury to her feet and was just starting to aid Sailorpluto when keening cries rang out all around them. More than one, and they were surrounded. The senshi bunched together in one tight circle. 

"How do we fight something we can't see?" Sailormars muttered. She sounded nervous. Sailorvenus said nothing. She was wondering the same. 

The keening wails grew closer and closer, and Sailoruranus was just preparing to lash out with her Space Sword when a voice rang out strong through the corridor. 

"Submarine Reflection!" 

Shimmering waves of light washed over them and illuminated dark, shapeless shadows all about them. As one, the keening cry rang out, almost painful to their ears. The shadows vanished. 

A figure, bracing themselves on the wall of the corridor, stumbled towards them. "Michiru!" Sailoruranus shouted, dashing towards the figure. 

"She found us…" Sailormars said in some relief mixed with wonder. 

Sailoruranu paid her no mind. She could see the aqua hair, the teal senshi fuku, the Aqua Mirror held loosely in one hand. She couldn't see the face of her lover, but she _knew_ she had found Michiru. 

"Haruka…" Sailoruranus heard Sailorneptune say, though her face was still to the wall. She made an effort to draw herself upright and stand on her own as Sailoruranus slowed beside her. The other senshi following closely behind. It seemed to take great effort, but Sailorneptune turned her head from the wall. "Haruka…" 

The senshi drew in a breath all at once at the sight of Sailorneptune with the exception of Sailormars who looked sad. The blood had dried and flaked off her skin, but the gash and mangled remains of her eye remained caked with blood. Her hair framing the left side of her face was matted with more blood. Beneath the blood, her face was pale and drawn, but remained faintly determined. "I would have been here sooner, but I was delayed…" she said, her tone wry. Though her tone was light, her expression was grim. "Those shadows aren't dead. There isn't any way to kill them that I can find. But I chased them off." 

Sailoruranus took two steps forward and wrapped her arms around Sailorneptune. "I saw you die…" she said with a ghost of a smile. Her voice was filled with emotion. 

"I saw you dying as well," Sailorneptune said, burying her face against Sailoruranus' shoulder. "I came to find you. The real you." 

"Your face…are you alright?" 

"Well enough. I can manage; for a while, at least." 

Sailorneptune pulled away from Sailoruranus then, and faced the other senshi. She grew grim when she saw the unconscious Sailorjupiter, and the bruises around Sailormars' throat. Sailorpluto was studying her face with a mix of startlement and wariness. "What?" she asked of Sailorpluto. 

Sailorpluto blinked. "Oh…nothing. I saw your injury…a while ago. But in a different scenario," she said slowly. "Nothing more." 

Sailorneptune wanted to ask more, but right then, Hotaru stepped out from behind the group. Sailorneptune clenched her hands as Hotaru studied her closely. "Why?" Sailorneptune asked of the group while never taking her eyes off Hotaru. "Why is she with us?" 

"Sailorsaturn brainwashed her," Sailorvenus spoke up hastily. "She doesn't remember anything. Michiru, she's one of us!" 

Sailorneptune stared at the girl for another long moment before turning away. "Watch her," she said shortly. "She did this to me." 

There was an uncomfortable silence before Sailormercury said quietly, "Lets go. I want to go home." The others silently took up their positions with Sailorneptune beside Sailoruranus. Hotaru said nothing in her defense. 

************************************** 

Hoshi winced at the racket they made tramping through the damp underground passage, debating for the hundredth time the possibility of using her power to quietly sneak in. But she knew Sailorsaturn would feel her the moment she tried (if she didn't already). And she had to save every _shred_ of her power for the enevitable confrontation. 

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Naoto asked once again. His patient tone was getting strained. 

Hoshi spared the man a patient glare. She had met up with Naoto inside the passges beneath Crystal Tokyo. She had been just as startled to see him as he had been to see her, but in the end, they had decided to ban together. Hoshi looked back briefly at the hard-faced men trailing along behind her. All carried weapons and all knew how to use those weapons effectively. They were another reason she allowed Naoto to accompany her. One way or another, Chaos or Sailorsaturn, whatever she was, she would be defeated. She would save her mother and she would reclaim the ginzuishou. Or she would die trying. 

Caught up in these thoughts, she stumbled over an uneven patch of ground and nearly fell before she caught herself. "Careful," Naoto said. 

"Worry about yourself," she replied caustically. She was glad it was dark in this passage. 

Naoto grunted unconcernedly. They walked in silence. 

"Why are you here, Naoto?" Hoshi asked at last. "You were told to gather up the people and stay away from this place." She couldn't keep the puzzlement from her voice. 

When Naoto didn't respond, Hoshi thought he was ignoring her. She was just drawing in a breath to repeat herself when he responded, "Loyalties." 

Hoshi blinked. "Loyalty to who?" 

"Haruka." 

"But she's dead," Hoshi said bluntly. 

To her surprise, Naoto chuckled. Just a little. "You have a lot to learn before you take the throne." Hoshi drew in an outraged breath, but Naoto continued as if he didn't notice. "Some things are more important than your life." 

"Duty?" Hoshi asked. "The end of Sailorsaturn's life? 

"Killing her would make us no better than monsters." 

At this, Hoshi missed a step. "What? But after all she's done to us! How can you say that?" 

"Because its true." He had the patient tone of one speaking to a child. 

"Then if that's not why you're here, what's the reason?" Hoshi asked. Almost acidly, she added, "Did you love Haruka?" 

"No." Simple, and unemotional. "But I owed her my life and so I mean to help these new senshi." 

"You have no chance against Sailorsaturn. This isn't your fight," Hoshi persisted. "You will die." 

"Does dying bother you?" Naoto asked blandly. He might have been talking about the weather. 

Hoshi glanced over at him, wishing she could see his face in the gloom. "I won't die until I've saved this world," she said lowly. 

Naoto was silent for a bit. Finally, though, he said, "Do you want to do this to save everyone, or do you do this out of revenge?" Hoshi refused to respond. They walked on in silence, unaware of how close they were to their objective. 

************************************** 

The group of senshi sat in silence against the walls. Water dripped steadily in the distance somewhere, reminding some of how long it had been since they had anything to eat or drink. As senshi, eating and drinking was always far from their minds, but dehenshined as they were, it was all they could think about. Almost.They had decided to dehenshin to conserve their waning energy. With the exception of Haruka, they had been their senshi alter-egos since arriving on this world, and the constant stress and strain of the heightened senses and perceptions was draining their energy. So they were resting. 

"How much longer?" Minako asked. 

"Just a bit," Setsuna responded. Her head was resting against the wall and her eyes were closed. "Just a bit…" 

"It feels so much worse without being henshined…" Michiru murmered. Her head was resting limply on Haruka's shoulder. Her face was pale, even paler than it had been when she was henshined. Her wound seemed to take on an entire spectrum of angry reds, and if it wasn't for the piece of cloth she had ripped from her clothes pressed against it, it would have begun bleeding again. 

"It will feel better when we henshin again," Ami said absently, caught up in examining Makoto. The brown-haired girl was awake again, moreso than she had been thus far, but in pain. 

"How is she?" Haruka asked Ami. 

Ami didn't respond right away as she gently probed the wound in Makoto's shoulder and carefully moving each of her limbs. Makoto winced when Ami touched her right arm, but obligingly moved it. A little. "Can you stand?" Ami asked Makoto briskly. 

"Probably," she replied with a smile that was only partially strained. "But I'm not going to do it now. I have to save all my energy if I'm going to help." 

Ami frowned. "You've lost a lot of blood, Makoto…" she said warningly. "We aren't going to fight if we don't have to." 

"You will," a voice spoke up. Everyone turned to look at Hotaru. "Fight her, I mean. I can feel her still…she's close…" Hotaru dropped her eyes to her clasped hands. 

"What is she planning, Hotaru?" Minako asked. 

Hotaru shrugged, not looking up. 

"You don't know? How can you know she's close and still not know what she's planning?" Michiru asked sharply. She tensed as if she were going to rise, but Haruka placed a hand on the top of her head. She relaxed, but only fractionally. 

Hotaru raised her head stiffly. "I don't know. But she's close," she said cooly. The others looked at her warily, hearing in her voice the same person who had fought them. Hotaru looked away. 

"Henshin everyone. We should get going," Setsuna said at last. Nobody questioned her, for they all knew the real reason she wanted them all transformed. Nobody trusted Hotaru like they used to. With a last wary look, everyone pulled themselves to their feet and henshined themselves in the blink of an eye. With the new power of their senshi selves surrounding them, they all looked worlds better. Even Sailorjupiter could hold herself upright without help, if only for a minute. Sailorpluto gave Sailormercury a nod, and the blue-haired senshi started off down the corridor. 

The corridor that had once been winding, dark, and uneven began to straighten and smooth. Set into the walls every few paces were large crystals that, while not glowing nearly enough to light the entire area, did cast small pools of radiance. They slowed their pace marginally, Hotaru's warning playing through their minds. As they walked, plaques of marble carved with reliefs of various scenes began appearing on the walls. One, a profile of the palace at the time of the Silver Millennium, caught all of their eyes as they passed. 

Just as the silent group was wondering where the end would be, the walls opened up into a vast hall. The lighting crystals glowed brightly here and were placed more frequently, yet the high ceiling was still lost in shadow. Statues lined the walls leading up to one large statue of Neo-Queen Serenity smiling benevolantly and reaching out one hand. As the senshi slowly entered this huge room, they found that the other statues were of the senshi themselves. They looked older and more wise, their uniforms even more changed than the ones they wore now. Looking on themselves as they would (or might) be gave more than a few of them goosebumps, and nobody said anything until Sailoruranus on the far side of the hall suddenly said, "The Starlights." 

The others joined her and found themselves looking into the faces of Starfighter, Starhealer, and Starmaker. Next to them, Princess Kakyuu looked solemnly down at them, looking even colder in marble. "But they went back to Kinmoku," Sailorjupiter said. "Why are there statues here?" 

"A memorial, maybe," Sailorneptune said, looking to Sailorpluto for confirmation. The senshi of Time looked thoughtful, but said nothing. After a moment, the group moved downt he hall. They passed statues of Endymion and Helios without comment and was just approaching the statue of Serenity when the echoing reverberations of many footfalls caused them all to turn warily. 

The footsteps pasued, and a lone figure appeared from a second doorway opposite the one they entered through. The senshi stirred as they recognized the red-haired Hoshi. Hoshi looked equally surprised to see them. They stood looking silently at each other. 

"You broke free," Hoshi said at last, as if it weren't obvious. "I'm glad." 

Sailorneptune snorted softly. To Sailorpluto, she said, "We're wasting time. Lets go." 

Hoshi looked startled. "Go? But what about Sailorsaturn?" 

"We've suffered enough," Sailorneptune shot back at once. "Sailorjupiter is gravely injured, as am I. We're exhausted, hungry, thirsty, and concerned about our own Queen. We're going home." 

"Who is the coward now, Sailorneptune?" Hoshi demanded harshly. "You're going to run away and lick your wounds while we die!" 

"Hoshi!" a new voice said sharply. Hoshi looked irritated as Naoto emerged from behind her. "This isn't their fight." He looked beyond Hoshi at the group of senshi. His eyes tighted briefly as he recognized Hotaru hanging back behind the group before coming to rest on Sailorneptune beside Sailoruranus. "You found your Haruka," he said. 

Sailorneptune nodded once. "Yes. I'm sorry." 

Hoshi looked from the senshi to Naoto and back again. "But…I need your help," she said at last. "Please." This last was barely audible. 

"I'm sorry, but we can't," Sailorpluto said, unmoved. "We will leave now." She began moving forward, the other senshi following her. Sailorjupiter looked troubled, and said something softly to Sailorvenus as the blonde helped her walk. Sailorneptune heard the word 'Serenity' once. Sailorvenus looked first troubled, then dismayed. 

"Fine," Hoshi spat. "Run. But if I fail, Sailorsaturn will come after you in your time. And she will be even stronger." 

This time, Sailorneptune saw Sailormercury look briefly thoughtful. Yet, they all kept walking. Naoto just stood off to one side and watched. 

"Cowards," Hoshi sneered one last time. This time, Sailoruranus wheeled just as she was passing and drew a fist back. But just as she was preparing to deliver Hoshi a resounding blow to the face, dark laughter echoed around them and made Sailoruranus pause in the act. 

"Yes. Cowards. They fear me, as they should!" Sailorsaturn's voice caused them all to tense and look about them. Hotaru moaned lowly in her throat. They saw nothing at first. After the echo of her words died away, there was silence. Then, with a resounding crack that caused them all to jump, the smiling head of Serenity pitched forward and smashed into a multitude of pieces on the ground. And there was Sailorsaturn, standing on the stump that had been the statue's neck and leering down at them triumphantly. "All in one place! You senshi make it so easy for me!" She leaped nimbly off the statue and regarded the tensed senshi cooly. "This will be easy," she said again, her eyes glinting cruelly. 

"I have come to destroy you, Chaos," Hoshi declared before the others could react. Her red ponytail jerked and her eyes snapped angrily. "You'll pay." 

Sailorsaturn threw her head back nad laughed. "Such the princess. What about your mother? What would Chibiusa say hearing you talk like this?" 

"Be quiet!" Hoshi yelled. "You used to be my mother's closest friend, Sailorsaturn! You don't deserve to use her name like that anymore!" She took in a deep, shuddering breath to control her temper then, and continued, "But you really aren't Sailorsaturn anymore. You've done too much, Chaos. You'll regret the suffering you've caused." 

Fury twisted Sailorsaturn's features, and when she spoke, she spoke with the voice of another. "Sailorcosmos…" a deep dark voice hissed from Sailorsaturn's throat. "This is the last battle we fight." Darkness welled around Sailorsaturn who began twitching convulsively. 

Hoshi was quick to respond. Without a word, without a phrase, without a flash of light, Hoshi changed. Her single ponytail was suddenly twin odangos, her white robes turned into a long, white, divided skirt and a white sleeveless body. A starburst graced her forehead, gleaming faintly silver in the dim room. 

"Sailorcosmos…" Sailorpluto said softly. "And Chibichibi. Who else are you?" 

Sailorneptune looked uncertainly at Sailorcosmos. "If you are…why are we here? What do you need with us?" she asked lowly. 

Sailorcosmos fixed Sailorneptune with a cool look over her shoulder. "Your power." 

Just then, a darkness fell on them all, a darkness so cold, that the senshi screamed in agony. Sailorneptune saw nothing, but she felt Sailoruranus collapse somewhere nearby. Her own legs gave way, and still she screamed. The cold was tearing her apart, breaking her down into pieces, unmaking her. She screamed. Chaos laughed. 

Sailoruranus suddenly vanished from Sailorneptune's mind. Their bond was broken, and only death would break a bond that tight. She howled in despair then, Sailoruranus' passing ripping an unfillable void in her. Time slowed. Her heart beat once. Twice. A third time. And then…nothing. She felt no pain, no cold from the outside. Instead, icy cold reached up from within her chest and seized her throat. She collapsed as well. Her mind, and her heart, was still. 

************************************** 

Serenity screamed. Her scream trailed off into ragged breaths as people came running. Endymion shoved through them all and took Serenity in his arms. "Usako…Usako!" he said, shaking her gently. 

Serenity looked at him as if looking at a stranger, then started shaking. "The senshi…" she said brokenly. "Ami…Rei…Minako…Makoto…Hotaru…Michiru…Haruka…Setsuna…dead! All dead…!" 

Endymion rocked her, motioning the small crowd to leave them alone. He had been waiting for this. The senshi had been gone nearly a year, too long for everything to have gone according to plan. And now, somehow, he had to console a woman who had loved each and every one of the senshi just as fiercely as she loved him. And felt them die. 

************************************** 

Haruka floated. She floated curled up. She thought about nothing at all. She had died, she knew this. Died, perhaps, for the last time. Maybe a new, different Sailoruranus would be chosen. Maybe. 

"Do you know how your Trial came into play?" 

Haruka heard the voice and started, but her eyes wouldn't open. "No. Tell me," she said instead. Or thought, rather. She found that she had no mouth to speak with. 

"Hotaru turned against you in your Trial. You trusted her, and she decieved you." 

Haruka accepted this. "And Michiru betraying me?" 

"That wasn't true. That was a manifestation of your own doubts. Doubts you got from listening to Michiru and Setsuna talk that night." 

Haruka was quiet. This was true. "I failed because I trusted the wrong person." 

"Correct, ruler of Uranus. You have earned your title back, and are ready to proceed to the New Age, Eternal Sailoruranus." 

"How do you know all this about me?" 

"Because I am Sailorcosmos. I am a part of every senshi, and within me I know every senshi's own mind." 

"Hoshi?" 

"Yes?" 

"Who are you?" 

Haruka fell. 

************************************** 

Setsuna waited patiently. She knew where she was and what had happened. She would be sent for, eventually. Curled up, she waited. 

"You have passed your Trial, ruler of Pluto. You have earned the right to be reborn into the New Age, Eternal Sailorpluto." 

"This entire ordeal? Was this my Trial?" 

"Yes. It had to be, to properly test you." 

"But it isn't over yet." 

"Enough has ended. You have led the senshi successfully." 

"Hoshi?" 

"Yes?" 

"When you Tested me before…who was the second voice?" 

"Me. My Sailorcosmos self. I am two people, two souls, all in one. Hoshi isn't fully aware of me." 

"Only two?" 

Silence. 

"Hoshi, who else are you?" 

"I…." 

Setsuna fell. 

************************************** 

Curled up, Michiru was vaguely aware of an aching pain in her chest. She felt incomplete, yet she didn't care. She was dead. Peace at last. 

"Ruler of Neptune, you've already passed your Trial. Do you know what it meant?" 

"No." 

"In your Trial, you shrugged aside personal feelings in favor of your duty." 

"I had to kill Haruka. That was hardly fair." 

"Yet, didn't it happen in a sense?" 

"This Time's Haruka died at Sailorsaturn's hand. Not mine." 

"Believe what you will, Eternal Sailorneptune." 

"Hoshi?" 

"Yes?" 

"Who are you?" 

"I am…" 

Michiru fell. 

************************************** 

Hotaru hung suspended. She didn't float calmly like the others, but rather waited fearfully. She was not sure who she was, but every now and then, brief flashes of memories surfaced in her mind. Hwo could she trust them though? They could be lies too. 

"Ruler of Saturn." 

"Yes?" 

"You have failed your Trial, and are on the verge of failing your second chance. What do you have to say?" 

"Who am I?" 

"Hotaru. Sailorsaturn from the time the other senshi come from. They speak the truth." 

Hotaru found that, now that Sailorcosmos had told her the truth, all of her false memories vanished. She knew who she was. What she was. What she had done. And she felt like weeping. "I see. So my Trial…that forshadowed this?" 

"It warned you. You could have changed the outcome, knowing what was going to happen. You didn't have to accept the evil." 

"What happens to me now?" 

"I can stop Chaos with your help, Ruler of Saturn. But you cannot be afraid." 

"Afraid of what?" 

"Do you accept? I cannot tell you until you accept." 

"Who are you, Hoshi? I recognize your voice from long ago…" 

"I am…or was…Queen Serenity, ruler of the Moon. I was the first, so many thousands of years ago. Chaos had just emerged, and I was chosen to fight it." 

"Why didn't you tell us?" 

"Hoshi doesn't know, not the full story. She knows she knew you in a past life, but doesn't know from where. The carrier of Sailorcosmos rarely knows my past." 

Hotaru paused then, to think, but she found she had already made her decision. "I accept. I'l do what you ask of me." 

Hotaru listened long and listened carefully. She was afraid at first, but realized there was no other way. "I understand," she said at last. 

Hotaru fell. 

************************************** 

Sailorsaturn stood over the body of the senshi. Inside her, Chaos writhed and whined gleefully. She, however, was angry. They were dead, and their tiaras were lost to her. "Where is Hoshi?" she demanded of Chaos. It was suddenly still in her mind. (…she is not there?…) "No. The coward ran." 

Chaos howled with mad rage in her mind. Sailorsaturn felt like doing the same. She turned away from the bodies. She would find her, find her and kill her, find her and- 

"Michiru?" a voice croaked behind her. She wheeled and beheld an impossible sight 

The senshi were alive. Resplendant in ruffled uniforms and tall white boots, they were picking themselves up off the floor. "How…?" she whispered. Then, Sailorcosmos stepped out of thin air, and she forgot all else but her rage. 

************************************** 

"Haruka…" Sailorneptune murmered. Her hand went to her face, and found a healed scar. Her left eye was useless now, but somehow it didn't seem to matter. She looked down at herself, at a uniform that was alien to her, yet after its strange-ness registered, it felt like she had been wearing it all her life. She was a senshi above all else, and the ruler of a planet next. A life without either seemed distant, a dream fading upon waking. "I remember everything. Everything from Neptune…" She drew in a shuddering sigh. 

The senshi exchanged poleaxed looks. The inners in particular looked uncomprehending. Sailorneptune thought this might be because they hadn't had Trials. Or preparations. There would be explanations later, but not now. 

"You revived the senshi so I could take their tiaras, Sailorcosmos. I should thank you," Sailorsaturn said, striding forward. Looking at her, Sailorneptune felt none of the fear and apprehension she had before. She looked at the other senshi, and saw that they looked as determined as she did. Together, they stared down Sailorsaturn. 

Sailorsaturn paused upon seeing their resistance, and then laughed. "You'll be screaming soon enough," she said. She held out a hand. With a bloody flash of red light, the tainted ginzuishou appeared. Sailorsaturn flinched as it seized her chest, but then smiled in grim satisfaction as the senshi faltered. "You'll die. Here and now." Chaos' power flooded the ginzuishou, bursting outward at the senshi even as it seized and stabbed her own chest. 

Sailorneptune went flying and came down hard, her heart beating so fast, she thought it might burst. But she picked herself up and retaliated. From her hand, tendrils of water spiralled out and entwined around Sailorsaturn and the ginzuishou, all without an attack phrase of any kind. It was almost second-nature. Constricting tightly, they suddenly exploded in a flash of teal light, and Sailorsaturn howled. The other senshi soon followed suit as they picked themselves up and fought through the pain thudding in their chests. Varying attacks of varying colors slammed into Sailorsaturn alone, in pairs, until the senshi was on her knees still clutching the ginzuishou. 

Panting, both from the torment her body had undergone and the rage filling her veins, Sailorsaturn breathed, "I won't win…not here…" The ginzuishou glowed again, more brightly. This time, the senshi were floored. 

Sailorcosmos came forward then. She took steps forward until she was close enough to touch the senshi crouched defensively on the floor. Sailorcosmos looked back once, her eyes resting on Hotaru who had remained untransformed through all this. "Hotaru," she said softly, her eyes grim. Then, she returned her attention to Sailorsaturn and, almost disdainfully, whipped her staff forward. Sailorsaturn went flying into the air, striking the body of the statue of Neo-Queen Serenity and crashing roughly to the floor. 

************************************** 

Pain wracked her body. Licking her lips, Sailorsaturn tried to rise and found the pain too great. One by one, she felt the subtle walls she had built around Chaos to stop it from taking her over crumble. And she embraced the entity within her mind, looking for a release. Her last thought before Chaos annihilated her consciousness was, absurdly, Chibiusa. 

************************************** 

Sailorsaturn lay still. They watched for long moments, before Sailoruranus started forward with her Space Sword drawn. The murderous look in her eyes told everyone what she intended. But, before she could act on her intention, inky blackness began leaking from Sailorsaturn's body once again, this time forming into something vaguely human. "Sailorcosmos…" it rasped. 

Sailorcosmos whipped her staff once again, but this time it flew out of her hands and clattered beside Chaos. Sailorcosmos looked surprised, but her hands came together, and a sphere of energy slammed into Chaos. It laughed. 

Behind Sailorcosmos, the senshi exchanged looks. Their auras flared, and as they released their attacks, they combined into one giant beam of white energy. As it slammed into the inky blackness that was Chaos, a keening whine had them holding their ears as it cried in pain. "Its calling those shadow things!" Sailormercury said. They bunched together, with the exception of Hotaru. She stood looking at Sailorcosmos, even as a hundred answering cries echoed throughout the room. 

"Hotaru!" Sailorvenus called. "Hotaru!" She didn't seem to listen. 

Sailorcosmos advanced steadily on Chaos. Wave after wave, sphere after sphere slammed into the shifting black shape, until she was close enough to touch it. Snarling, an arm of blackness whipped out and grabbed her by the waist. She threw her head back and screamed, "Hotaru!" 

The senshi fought against the unseen demons that had come after hearing Chaos' call, knowing that it was futile. The demons couldn't be killed, couldn't be stopped, and it seemed like none of their attacks were slowing them in the least. With unseen claws, they slashed gashes in the senshi's arms and legs, with invisible arms they struck blows that had the senshi almost to their knees. Yet none attacked Hotaru, and the only one who saw Hotaru's last look at them was Sailorneptune. Instinctively, she knew what she was going to do. 

************************************** 

Hotaru yelled, "Eternal Saturn, MAKE UP!" Before the tainted feeling of her transformation had fully worn off, she was dashing at Chaos. Her mind was a whirl of thoughts and emotions, and she only vaguely recognized the sharp pain in her chest. The Timestream knew there were two Sailorsaturns here in this one time, and though one was almost certainly dead, it was working fast to eliminate the problem. Sailorcosmos' scream grew ragged as Chaos drew her closer. Hotaru knew that Sailorcosmos would be gone forever if Chaos swalled her into that deep darkness, and it would be all over for all of them. For the universe. 

The glaive in her hand grew warm as she began readying her attack. The only way this would work was if Sailorcosmos was still strong enough. She had said to have faith, but the consequences of failure were too great to ignore. Hotaru prayed everything would go as planned. Behind her, the senshi fought. They would die soon if she was not quick, die without rebirth at Chaos' hand. 

Then, she was close enough, and she stopped thinking. Drawing her glaive back, she embedded it in Chaos' side. An arm snaked out to grab her, but she huriedly yelled, "Death Ribbon Revolution!" And braced herself. The power consumed her and enveloped her body. She was dead before she knew if everything had succeeded. 

************************************** 

The words rang out strong over the sounds of battle, and everything fell silent. The demons had vanished. Weakly, the senshi looked up just in time to see Hotaru's body vanish and violet black power rip apart Chaos. The ground shook alarmingly as the power raced out, but a silver dome sprung up on all sides. The power collided with the shield, and it flickered alarmingly. Once. Twice. And again. The senshi watched fearfully. Sailorneptune held Sailoruranus' hand. 

The end never came. With a final bright pulse, the shield and the power that could tear apart worlds both vanished. Last remnants of what had been Chaos vanished in small clouds of greasy black smoke. There was silence. 

The senshi helped each other to their feet, saying nothing to break the silence. Sailorsaturn, and Chaos, had been defeated. But Hotaru had died, and so had Sailorcosmos. It seemed almost empty. They looked at each other sadly, unsure of what to say. 

"What now?" Sailormars asked finally. "I…want to go back, but we can't just leave…Queen Usagi is mad, and with Hoshi dead-" 

"I'm…not dead…" a weary voice interrupted her. Sailorcosmos appeared then, the ginzuishou nestled in one hand. "Or, rather, Hoshi isn't. As for me...it is time I find a new carrier. I need to regain strength for the time when Chaos returns." 

"Is Hotaru dead?" Sailorjupiter asked. She seemed to be almost completely healed, though she held the arm that had been wounded carefully. "If you're alive, is she?" 

"No. This was her atonement. She failed her Trial and nearly killed everyone, and this was the only way." 

Sailorvenus sagged. "Serenity will be heartbroken…" she whispered. They had all known deep inside that the girl had been lost, but to hear it spoken aloud only made things worse. Sailormars' head bowed, and Sailormercury was openly crying against Sailorjupiter's chest. 

"Is the ginzuishou alright?" Sailorpluto spoke up then. Her voice was emotionless, her face expressionless. The other two remaining outers betrayed no more emotion than she did. 

Sailorcosmos held it out. It sat quietly in her palm, all silvery crystal and no trace of the reddish taint. "It is. The tiaras have returned to the ginzuishou as well. New senshi will be reborn to replace the old," she said. "Everything will be as it should be, given a few years." 

They looked at Sailorcosmos. Sailorcosmos looked back at them. "I must go back to Hoshi," Sailorcosmos said at last. "She won't remember all of what has happened here, but she will know we have won." 

"Wait," Sailorpluto said sharply. "You never did answer my question. Who are you?" The other two outers stiffened and stared expectantly at her. 

Sailorcosmos looked at them for long moments before saying finally, "It wouldn't be wise to tell you. The one who knows died." Here, she stared at Sailorpluto and said abruptly, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not having the energy to send you too. I've been waiting to say that." 

Sailorpluto frowned in puzzlement, but then, all at once, her eyes widened. "It isn't possible…" she said, awed. 

She made as if to bow, but Sailorcosmos interrupted her sharply, "No. Not anymore." Sailorpluto straightened reluctantly, her eyes shining almost as if she were on the brink of tears. The other senshi looked between Sailorpluto and Sailorcosmos in some confusion, but were wise enough not to demand answers. Sailorcosmos turned away then, but her eyes fell on a limp form on the ground. She knelt down next to it. "Naoto. The least I can do for Hoshi is revive him," she said, almost to herself. With one hand on the dead man's forehead and the other pressed against her chest, her eyes closed, and both hands glowed brightly. Naoto's chest heaved once, and with a cough and a great intake of air, he lay limply on the floor and breathed shallowly. Sailorcosmos rose, and with a last look at the gathered senshi, simply vanished. 

Where Sailorcosmos had been only moments before, Hoshi sank to the ground beside Naoto. The senshi rushed to her side, and with Sailormercury supporting her, Hoshi's eyes fluttered open. "We won," she said weakly with a small half-smile. "Thanks to you. I'm…sorry for everything. Please, believe me…" 

Sailorneptune and Sailorpluto exchanged looks as the inner senshi reassured Hoshi that everything was forgiven. They held each other's gaze for a long moment before looking off in different directions. So many things had been thrown in their face, that they weren't sure what to believe anymore. Sailoruranus squeezed Sailorneptune's hand reassuringly, and the aqua-haired woman smiled faintly. At least one thing was still sure. 

Hoshi's head turned in the direction of where Naoto lay, and she found the energy to say scornfully, "So…he made it through too. I give him credit. Obstinate as he is." Sailorcosmos' words about owing it to Hoshi to keep this man alive suddenly made sense in the senshi's minds, and more than a few of them had to hide smiles. 

They stayed just long enough to ensure that both Hoshi and Naoto were alright. Though the palace was broken and the sky outside still a threatening, if slightly lighter, shade of black, Hoshi assured the senshi that everything would be fine. 

"Mother just needs some time, I think," Hoshi said to them the day after. The ruler of Crystal Tokyo had been found where Sailorneptune, Sailorjupiter, and Sailormars had discovered her last, crying softly to herself. Upon seeing Hoshi, she had very nearly gone into hysterics, but eventually she had cried herself into an exhausted sleep. "When she realizes that there's still hope, she'll come around." 

The senshi didn't argue. They wanted to go back to their own time too badly to put up much resistance. So, on a day almost a month since first arriving in the world on the edge of disaster, without fanfare or fond farewells, Sailorpluto opened up a gate back to the past. Without looking back, one by one, the senshi entered. Just as Sailorpluto herself was about to pass through, Hoshi touched her arm. "Thank you," she said again. Sailorpluto smiled what she hoped was a comforting smile and made an obligatory response before pulling away and stepping through the gate. She let it close behind her without regrets. 

************************************** 

Neo-Queen Serenity watched with a fond smile as King Endymion dandled the two-year-old Usagi on one knee. The girl could toddle around, albeit unsteadily, and was able to speak small phrases and words. Maybe it was just her imagination, but Serenity could already see some of the Chibi-usa she knew in the small child. 

The kingdom-_her_ kingdom-was practically running itself. After their intial fear and awe had worn off, her people worked long and hard at whatever task they were given. They had witnessed the end of the world, and were determined to live this second chance they had been given the best they could. She was the ruler of a prosperous kingdom in a nearly dead world. Not totally dead, for she was in regular contact with those that had survived in China via people chosen to travel between the two. The amount of people she had saved was much larger than she had originally thought, but when compared to the amount lost… 

Serenity banished that thought. It wasn't worth thinking about. There were other worries, like why new senshi hadn't been reborn again yet. She knew they hadn't, for she would be able to feel them groing and maturing. 

"Don't think too hard, Usako," Endymion said mildly, still bouncing the child on his knee. Usagi grinned a crooked grin and laughed every time he bounced her especially high. "You're frowning." 

Serenity smiled faintly. "Am I?" she said absently. "There's much to think about." 

"Not so much that it has to intrude on our private time together," he said. He lifted Usagi off his leg and set her carefully down on her feet. "Down you go. Go see your mother." 

Obediantly, the two year old began the long trek across the room to her mother, stopping only occasionally to balance herself. She had gotten no more than halfway when a bright line opened up into a gateway just in front of the child. The suddeness of the appearance made Usagi stumble back and fall on her bottom in surprise. Endymion was on his feet and just catching the girl up in his arms when people began coming through. Serenity stood slowly on shaky legs, staring down at the ones she had thought dead. 

The senshi stared up at their Queen standing on the dais before, with a muffled sob, Sailorvenus flung herself at Serenity. The other inners followed, embracing Serenity tightly. Serenity hugged back, only partially aware of what was going on, even as the inners were all crying and talking at once. "Back off!" Sailorjupiter demanded. "Give her some room!" She could see Serenity beginning to crack at the shock of seeing them, and she would rather die than see Serenity reduced to the half-coherant Queen of the future. The senshi obligingly backed off then, tears shining in their eyes. 

"You're alive…!" Serenity finally managed. Relief and sublime joy filled her face, and she held her arms out. The senshi, laughing, piled into the Queen's arms. The outer senshi hung back. They smiled faintly at the inner senshi's exhuberance, but didn't take part themselves. Too much had happened, and they were tired. 

"We thought you were dead," Endymion said from behind the three and made them all turn. His eyes widened at the sight of Sailorneptune's face, and he asked, "What happened to you all this time?" 

They hesitated. Sailorneptune looked away, a hand unconsciously rubbing her scar. Sailoruranus looked down at the floor. Sailorpluto came forward and fingered Usagi's sugar-pink hair. At her touch, Usagi reached out her chubby hands and said in the urgency of all two-year-olds: "Up!" 

Sailorpluto complied with a small smile. "She's so large," she said, holding Usagi as the girl played with the star adorning the body of her uniform. "How long have we been gone?" 

"About two and a half years," Endymion replied grimly. "Was this planned?" 

Sailorpluto watched the girl she held. In the background, she heard the inner senshi still talking with Serenity. "No. We were only gone a month, according to our time," she replied absently. "Travelling in time is tricky even under the best of circumstances." 

"Neptune. Uranus. Pluto." Serenity's voice rang out strong, and the three turned. Sailorneptune tried to shield her scar, but in the end just let her hand fall to her side. Serenity looked sad. "Where's Hotaru?" she asked quietly. 

Silence. The four inners quietly retreated back to where Sailorneptune, Sailoruranus, and Sailorpluto stood. If the outers were to be judged, they would be as well. "Gone," Sailorneptune said at last. "She died…to win the battle." 

Serenity's expression never changed. "You won then? What of Sailorsaturn? Is she…?" 

"Chaos inhabited her," Sailorpluto responded. "She was too far gone to save. I'm…sorry, my Queen." 

Serenity's eyes closed, and she seemed to be trying to compose herself. "Did you try?" she asked, still with her eyes closed. 

"Yes," Sailoruranus said at once. "There was no choice." 

Serenity's response was long in coming. As the seconds ticked by, the senshi exchanged uncertain looks. Was Serenity truly going to judge them? Finally, though, her blue eyes opened and she smiled down at them. "I'd like to know what happened, but…not now. For now, I'm grateful you returned. Welcome home." 

The senshi looked relieved, and Sailorvenus went so far as to laugh. In Sailorpluto's arms, Usagi turned and looked up into her face. When she was sure that she had the older woman's full attention, she said, "Puu?" 

That was all it took. The senshi, the Queen, and the King all burst out laughing, while Usagi stared in some bafflement at them all. They laughed until they cried, and when they finally stopped, they knew they truly were home. 

********************************** 


	10. Epilogue

Crystal Trials - Epilogue 

BlueDolphin 

************************************** 

"Hey, Puu?" Usagi said, pausing in her capering along the sides of the street long enough to give the woman a serious look. 

Setsuna, who had been noting the progress of the workers and the expansion of the city, looked down at her. In the year that had passed since the events that had changed them all, Usagi had grown rapidly. Usagi had been two and a half years old when they returned, yet now, only twelve months later, she had achieved the mental and physical appearance of any other gangly eight year old. "Yes, Small Lady?" 

By this time, Usagi had wandered over to a large pile of crystal set aside for building purposes and didn't respond right away. Impulsively, she began climbing, her attention devoted solely on the task at hand. Setsuna waited, watching with a small smile as the girl finally achieved the top. Grinning triumphantly, she said, "Look!" 

Amused, Setsuna said, "Very good, Small Lady. But how will you get down?" A lesson could be taught here. 

"Climb of course!" Usagi replied confidently. But, as she began snaking her way down, she gulped. It was a lot harder going down than it was climbing up. "Puu…" she started uncomfortably, but just then, the loose crystal shifted beneath her hands. Yelling and flailing her arms wildly, she fell. "Ouch…" she winced, picking herself up. 

Setsuna, hiding a smile, brushed the girl off. "You're dirty now," she said with mock severity. "What will the people think of when they see their princess like this?" 

Looking up from her skinned knees, Usagi said solemnly, "They'll think that, whatever I had done, I had fun." 

Setsuna laughed then, unable to keep it in. They resumed walking slowly along the half-finished streets. "What did you want to ask me, Small Lady?" 

"Umm…" Usagi paused to pick up a discarded piece of smooth crystal and began turning it over and over in her hand. "Oh yeah…I don't think any of the others like me much." 

"How do you know?" Setsuna asked. Of course, she had noticed the others' reactions to the girl, but she wanted to see what Usagi would say. 

"Just a feeling…" Usagi replied vaguely. "Strange looks, strange words…" 

They passed from the half-finished buildings and into the shaded streets. Other children played here, watched over by parents chatting amicably with each other. Usagi watched the children as well as they walked by, looking wistful. "Maybe you remind them of someone," Setsuna replied carefully, steering Usagi away from them. 

"But I can't help that!" Usagi said earnestly. She tossed the piece of crystal away irritably. "I can understand if they were busy, but just because I remind them of someone? That's a dumb reason!" 

"Usagi, your tone," Setsuna admonished. The girl drooped at the use of her name, and after she mumbled an apology, Setsuna continued. "We had an…experience a while ago, Small Lady. The others might still remember it." 

"Puu, you sound sad," Usagi said in a small voice. "What happened? And what do I have to do with it?" 

Setsuna was silent. They had passed into a quieter sector of the city, and not much could be heard other than the balmy breeze rustling the leaves overhead. Usagi walked at her side, casting unsure glances at the older woman. "We fought a battle that we had no hope of winning," she said at last. Seeing Usagi's puzzled look, she added, "We defeated the evil, to be sure, but that battle left us with scars and memories that will never fade." 

Usagi walked in silence for a time, before stirring and finally saying, "My lessons in history once had a phrase that I remember. I asked my instructor what it meant, and he said that it meant everything we go through makes us better people in the end." 

"What was the phrase, Small Lady?" Setsuna asked. She was surprised; she hadn't thought the princess paid attention to her lessons. 

There was a pause while Usagi carefully recalled what was said. " 'That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger,'" she quoted at last. "Or…something like that, anyway." 

The irony of the statement made Setsuna smile wryly, but instead she said, "I won't be around much now. Michiru, Haruka, and I have to leave." 

"What? Why?" Usagi demanded, stopping and staring at Setsuna in confusion. "Where will you go?" 

"To our home," Setsuna said gently. "On our planets." 

"People don't live on those planets. My teachers told me so," Usagi said scornfully. 

Setsuna smiled faintly. "They do. I can feel them through the bond I share with my planet, and they need a ruler." 

"But…but you're the guardian of the Gates of Time!" Usagi protested. "How can you do both?" 

"There are ways," Setsuna replied evasively. 

They started walking again. "I…guess then you have to go," Usagi allowed reluctantly. "But you'll still come to visit?" 

"I thought you would ask such a thing," Setsuna said. "So I left you a present in your chambers. It will allow you to contact me wherever I am. As long as you promise not to abuse it, you may keep it." 

Usagi's eyes shone. "Really?" 

"Really. It even has a name. Luna-P," Setsuna said with a smile. She really was going to miss her. 

"Luna-P…" Usagi repeated, trying the word out. Suddenly, her expression crumpled and she threw herself at Setsuna, who barely caught her. "I'm gonna miss you, Puu," she said, her voice muffled against the woman's shoulder. 

Setsuna patted the girl's back. "I'll miss you too, Small Lady. But you will have other friends…" she said soothingly. Just then, Setsuna felt a strange vibration in the air. Pattering footsteps approached from behind, closer and closer until Setsuna heard a startled exclamation. 

"Oh…!" a girl's voice yelped, just before there was the sound of someone falling. Usagi pulled away and looked curiously over Setsuna's shoulder. Setsuna, too, turned. A young girl was sprawled out on the ground, breathing heavily. 

"Are you alright?" Usagi asked urgently, breaking away from Setsuna and running to the girl's side. "You aren't hurt or anything, are you?" 

The girl looked up, and stared at Usagi with wide eyes. "Princess!" she breathed, then flushed crimson. "F-forgive me. I was running, and I wasn't paying attention. I almost ran into you…" 

"Nevermind who I am. Are you alright?" Usagi persisted urgently. When the girl nodded slowly, Usagi smiled. "I'm glad. I don't want to see people hurt because of me." Setsuna was silent, watching this exchange with calculating eyes. She shouldn't meddle, yet… 

"What's your name?" Usagi asked, offering the girl a hand up which she accepted. 

Straightening the dark skirts she wore, she looked at Usagi with large violet eyes. Almost shyly, she replied, "Hotaru…" 

The next day, Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna were absent from the palace. All assumed the three had left for a brief visit to the countryside, but after first one week went by and then another, it grew apparent that the three were not returning. Usagi knew, but said nothing. The girl figured that if the three senshi had wanted anybody to know, they would have explained. Oddly enough, she hadn't had to make up a story to explain the floating likeness of a cat's head that followed her wherever she went, the present Setsuna had left her. The moment her mother had noticed it, she seemed to understand. 

************************************** 

end 


End file.
